A Dance of Death
by OculiImperator
Summary: In Jaune Arc's eyes, death was a finality of life but not something to be scared of. Though in truth it was't something a high schooler really cared about. However when things start to happen that set course to shatter the world he knows. He realizes that in Death's eyes it didn't matter who or what they were, for they were all the same to Death. (Zombie AU)
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Let it be known now, that this story will be touching upon subjects and areas of life that some people may find...disconcerting...**

 **Without further ado, I now present**

 **A Dance of Death.**

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Chapter 1

There was a loud buzz from nearby, pulsating incessantly on the hard surface of his nightstand. Jaune Arc reached out with his hand and grabbed his phone.

The alarm was going off on it, and buzzed in his hands. He opened his eyes and squinted as the bright LED screen shined in his face. It was five in the morning on Monday; it was time for him to get up.

He threw his covers off and sat up in his bed, looking out his window he could still see that it was dark. Jaune had started getting up early in the morning to work out. While he may still be in high school he had a goal of joining the army when he graduated.

His father, Alexander Arc had been in the army for nearly thirty years, only retiring when he had his second daughter. Now he ran his own military surplus store, selling everything from tents to semi-automatic rifles.

His grandfather had also been in the Army for a few decades and his father before him as well. For several generations, the Arcs have always had someone in the military.

Jaune wanted nothing more than to simply carry on his family's legacy in joining the military. Though his old man was proud that he had a goal in mind for when he was out of school, he didn't seem to fully support it.

Jaune wasn't sure why but he was fine with that. His father always told them that he did what he had to, to ensure that they could live happy lives.

So that's what Jaune wanted to do, at first he had wanted to become a chef because of how much he liked cooking. However it wasn't until they had witnessed a Military parade when he was in middle school that he changed his mind.

As Jaune started his pushups he couldn't help but think about what it was like when he first started his workout regime.

For the last year and a half Jaune had been waking up early almost every morning to workout with the exception of weekends to recuperate.

He ran three miles every day, did a hundred pushups, a hundred sit-ups and a hundred squats before getting ready for school.

Suffice to say that for first few months he barely made his goal of doing that every morning. More than once he felt like he could barely move afterwards. In the beginning weeks his dad had to help him upstairs when he would stumble through the back door.

Now, he was able to do it pretty well, he'd still be sweating and tired from the workout but he wouldn't be gasping for air like before.

The pain was also no longer there as well but a surprisingly pleasant burn in his muscles. With the past few months, Jaune had started to add more to his workout.

At first it was just to add more reps and put another mile on but soon he add different types of exercise. He had even bought some dumbbells and a free standing pull up bar, that were downstairs in the garage.

During summer he had even taken classes on boxing, both to learn a form of fighting and give an addition push of physical activity to his routine.

By the end of the beginner's course the instructor had actually pulled Jaune aside to personally encourage him to try out for the more advance classes, saying that he had a knack for it.

He couldn't wait to see how much he's improved later today. School had just started and Jaune had signed up for a weight training class as one of his electives.

As Jaune stepped downstairs, not a single noise in the house was heard, his dad was probably still asleep and his mom was still at the hospital since she was a night nurse.

His sisters were asleep as well, though only four lived in the house now; Katherine had gotten a job over in Atlas, while Mina had just finished training at the police academy. Sepherina was still in college studying Medicine.

Helena, Claire, and Miriya were also starting High school today. Nessa the youngest of the seven children was still in Elementary.

Jaune headed into the garage and picked a set of twenty pound dumbbells and started working out with them. He did three sets of hammer curls, followed by two sets of ten reps of deltoid raises.

Hunching over while keeping his back straight and his feet shoulder width apart Jaune started his dumbbell rows.

After three sets of ten Jaune took a deep breath and exhaled slowly before getting down into a pushup position gripping the dumbbells. As he lowered and raised himself he lifted the dumbbell in his right hand, keeping it close to his body.

He continued to do this, alternating each arm, sweat dripped off his face at a steady pace as Jaune reached his fortieth rep.

Sitting back he switched to a sit up position but kept his knees and legs together as he raised them off the ground. Holding the weight close and in front of his chest he started bringing his arms to either side of him as he clenched his abdomen.

As he finished his twentieth rep, he sets the weights aside, his body was warm and sweat made his shirt cling to him. Taking the time to inhale and exhale slowly, Jaune stood underneath the pull up bar gripping it shoulder width apart, he bent his knees as he held on tight leaving him hanging on by his hands only.

Pulling himself up till his chin was above the bar, Jaune slowly started to do pull ups. After his fifteenth rep, he could feel his arms burning as he began slowing down, struggling to pull himself up.

Jaune finally leg go out the bar and looked up at the clock on the wall, it was a little after six.

"Guess it's time to run now." Jaune mused aloud as he set the dumbbells back on their rack in the corner of the garage. He began to do a series of stretches to loosen up his muscles before heading out of the garage.

Jaune headed towards the kitchen, opening the back door and stepped out. Locking it behind him and hiding his spare key under a rock near the door. He took a deep breath of cool air; it filled his lungs and was refreshing.

His phone buzzed and he looked down to see text message from his friend Nora, he opened it up to see an attached picture in it of Lie Ren as he slept. The message with it saying how she was so excited to be a junior and so was Ren.

Jaune smiled as he sent a quick reply and walked out into the street, slipping his headphones over his head. He cued up his Iron Maiden playlist and started jogging.

Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie have been Jaune's friends since they were little kids. They weren't related but no one would deny that they were far closer than just friends. Some even remark about how they were practically married since they live together.

Nora's parents had died when she was little and the only family she had left was her grandmother whom she loved a lot. However raising a young girl wasn't something that her grandmother could do at her age. So she appealed to a close friend of her late daughter.

Thus Nora was taken in by Li and An Ren; there she met a certain young boy and the two inevitably became very close friends.

As for Nora, she had taken to the rumor of them practically being married very well. Especially when a transfer student had started hitting on Ren in sophomore year during lunch, Nora had seen it.

So she arranged a way to fight the girl after school. Of course, it being high school, a ton of people heard and it became a spectacle.

Jaune was still baffled at how Nora was able to leap practically out of nowhere and tackle the girl to the ground. It took Jaune, Ren and four other people to pry the orange hair girl off her as she screamed about getting revenge against any harlot that touched her to quote, "Renny Bear."

Jaune didn't let that go for weeks whenever he saw Ren, the magenta eyed teen simply slumped in defeat whenever he heard that.

As he reached the last mile of his morning run, he started to pick up pace, and before long was sprinting as fast as he could.

Breathing hard he pumped his arms, speeding past other early morning people, a few call out their greetings but Jaune mostly ignored them focusing on his breathing and steps. He could feel the burning sensation in his lungs as his body responded to his rapid breathing.

However just as he was about in front of his house a red head girl overtook him as he was sprinting.

"What. The. Fuck." Jaune gasped aloud as he slowed down; clasping his hands behind his head, sweat streaming down his face.

He walked up his drive way and looked up at his house; it was a modest two story building. Though when Nessa was born there were ten people living under one roof, in conjunction to his cooling body, he felt a chill of those stressful times.

He walked into the backyard, closing the gate behind him. He could see a light on in the kitchen and the smell of food being prepared. Soft jazz music was filtering out one of the windows.

Jaune picked up his spare house key from where he had left it and opened up the door. Standing in front of the stove was Alexander Arc, standing at six feet six inches; he was a tall and well-built man.

Despite having eight kids and a job he was still had a well-toned body that Jaune's caught more than one woman looking at the public beach.

He turned around; Jaune could see his short blonde hair going from brilliant yellow to silver, with matching stubble on his face.

"How was your workout?" Alexander asked as he plated scrambled eggs and hash browns onto a plate.

"It was good, bit chilly out at the moment." Alexander rolled his eyes.

"Of course its cold outside Jaune at this time of day, so be careful since autumn and winter are right around the corner." Jaune shrugged, and took out a water bottle from the fridge.

"Meh, I'm gonna go take a shower." Alexander waved a spatula as Jaune headed back upstairs to his room; grabbing a pair of jeans and a black V-neck shirt and headed into the bathroom.

Jaune peeled off the damp shirt from his body and took a look in the mirror. He looked over his torso and nodded at the visible results that he could see.

While not as built as his father or some of the guys at school. He had a leaner but well-toned body that shows his endeavor over the last year and a half.

After finishing his shower Jaune headed back into his room to gather his stuff for school. Shoving notebooks, pens and pencils into his black canvas messenger bag, slipping on his shoes, he headed back down stairs.

Coming in through the front door was his mother Arabella Arc. A short woman standing at only five foot six inches she had a slight oval face with shoulder length platinum blond hair and green eyes. She looked up at him, a smile splitting her otherwise tired face.

"Oh my baby boy is a junior already, I can still remember as if it was yesterday when you'd run around the house naked as a little boy cause you didn't want to take a bath." Arabella cooed as hugged Jaune and pinched his cheek, Jaune died a little on the inside.

"Morning mom, please don't repeat that. Ever." Arabella smiled, in Jaune's opinion it seemed that one of the many joys of being a parent was the ability to inflict emotional or social damage by recounting childhood stories from more than a decade ago.

"Nonsense you were so adorable back then." Arabella frown at that, slapping Jaune's arm.

"Does that mean he's ugly now?" A tired voice asked from above, and they turned to see Helena, Claire, and Miriya standing at the top of the stairs. Their blonde hairs at various lengths were damp from recently taking shower.

"No, he's my handsome little man now." Arabella cooed as she pinched his cheek again.

"Kill me." Jaune said whispered, earning another slap to the arm.

"Anyways Jaune go ahead and eat now, I know you want to go meet with Ren and Nora before heading to school. You girls can take your time; your father is going to drop you off at school today." Jaune headed into the kitchen and took a seat at the island in the center.

There were already six plates set around it; bacon, scrambled eggs, toast, hash browns, and an assortment of sliced fruit sat in the center of the island in bowls.

Jaune took a couple of scoops of eggs, hash browns and a few bacon slices, while pouring some water.

"In other news, to compound the spread of a deadly new epidemic, a series of murders have been springing up in Vacuo almost overnight, reports have come in that in the last twelve hours that multiple suspected homicides have occurred and at least a few hundred more cases of assault, most of the victims showing signs of animal like attacks, stay tuned for more coverage in the next hour." Jaune chewed slowly as he watched the Valean News Network, switch over to some lame political mumbo jumbo.

"Well that was fucking weird." Jaune muttered to himself, his dad flashed him a scowl.

"Language." He warned and Jaune mimicked zipping his lips before finishing his plate off of food. He stepped over to the sink and gave it a quick wash. Drying his hands, he grabbed his bag.

"Bye Dad!" He called out as he headed out the front door.

"Have fun at school!" Alexander replied, as the door closed, Jaune took a deep breath of the cool morning air. Autumn was practically around the corner, he could practically smell it.

He took off in the direction of his school, it wasn't that far away but it did reach the outskirts of downtown Vale.

About ten minutes into the walk, as Jaune waited at a stop light, someone jumped on him.

"Jaune Jaune!" An energetic voice cried out in his ear and he recognized both the nickname and voice.

"Hi Nora." Jaune said as he struggled with the hyper orange hair girl as she tried to crawl on top of his shoulders but gave up as Ren joined them. Jaune bumped fists with the quiet teen.

Nora wore a simple blue jacket over a pink shirt with a pair of worn down jeans with pink and white high tops. Ren wore a green flannel over a black shirt, and dark blue jeans that rested over a pair of black and white converse.

"How's your morning going?" Ren simply shrugged.

"About as well as any other morning when Nora's excited." Nora snickered from the side.

"He rarely complains."

"True, there's never a single thing to complain about, especially this morning." The magenta eyed teen said with a very rare smile touching his face, Nora's cheeks went a little red.

"What are you talking abou…" Jaune trailed off as she saw Nora turning red and could feel heat touching his cheeks as well.

"Oh…that." Ren simply chuckled as Nora slipped her hand into his and the three friends crossed the street as the light turned.

Signal High School was a large school. Stretching across nearly six miles the school was able to have upwards to four thousand students along with nearly a thousand teachers and support staff.

It was also a well-funded school being able to support multiple sports teams and clubs while maintaining a relatively high grade point average throughout the district.

Even now in his third year of high school Jaune could safely say that he didn't even know a tenth of the student body that made up his own year. Though there were a few exceptions to that, certain names that float around across the grades of individuals of note.

The worst of them would probably be Cardin Winchester; he was the resident school bully and star linebacker of the varsity football team.

He and Jaune had a few problems that occurred during their freshman year but thankfully as time went by he paid less and less attention to him. Though there were still occasions when Jaune would get unlucky and be on the wrong end of a raw egg or harassment.

In the polar opposite would be essentially the queens of the school, Yang Xiao Long, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Cinder Fall.

Yang Xiao Long was considered the leader of her own group that also happened to include Weiss Schnee and Blake Belladonna. She also happened to be the Captain of the school's boxing team, last year she went nearly undefeated, though she apparently lost to some girl from Sanctum High School in Mistral.

Weiss was a part of the Cheerleading team and rumor was that she could become Captain next year. She also brought a handful of not so fun memories for him.

Jaune had been smitten with her, and had consistently failed in trying to ask her out their freshman year. Thinking about it just makes Jaune want to groan in frustration of that time.

Jaune felt bad at having constantly pestered her, it made her look like a bitch at rejecting him. Where in truth the fault lies with Jaune in not taking no for an answer, maybe he could apologize sometime.

As for Blake, she was simply a quiet book reading girl that people thought was really pretty. There wasn't much to it aside from that.

Cinder Fall on the other hand, in Jaune's mind a mix between some cult leader and politician. Whenever there was something big going on, Jaune always felt like Cinder was behind it.

For instance their freshman year, two whole classes had their belongings ransacked when they left it behind for an assembly. Phones, wallets, and a myriad of other belongings were stolen, why people left that stuff in their bags Jaune wasn't sure but the fact that someone stole it was wrong nonetheless.

The teachers had accused two students of doing it, both of whom denied it but when the Principle came by to check their lockers out. Cinder came to talk with him, no one knew what was said but ultimately no one checked the lockers of the two students.

To this day, no one trusts Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black. Something jabbed into Jaune's side, hard.

"Ow, hey what's that for?" Jaune complained rubbing his ribs softly, Nora pouted in response. Jaune realized that they had already made it to the school grounds and were standing outside the main building.

"Well if Mr. Brooding had answered my question for the last five minutes I wouldn't have elbowed him."

"Well ask me again."

"No." Jaune felt his eye twitch; thankfully Ren came to his rescue.

"She was wondering if we should celebrate during the weekend." Jaune looked puzzled at that.

"Celebrate what? It's only junior year." Nora sighed with annoyance.

"So? Do we really need an excuse to watch a movie and eat a bunk of pizza?" Jaune exchanged looks with Ren.

"She has a point." Ren said and Jaune simply shrugged.

"Sure I'll talk to my folks after school and see if I can hangout." Li Ren was a traveling business man and tended to be away at long stretches of time working while An worked as a receptionist at a Veterinary clinic. So whenever they wanted to hang out for long periods of time or overnight Jaune would go to their place.

Overhead the bell started to ring and Nora looked up in dismay.

"Ahhhh but we just got here." Jaune patted her arm and turned to Ren.

"What classes do you have?" He pulled out a paper from his pocket and Jaune did the same, the two teens looking over each other's schedule.

"Well that sucks; we don't have a single class together." Jaune said, Ren nodding in agreement.

"Aw Jauney I'll miss you, you were the second best blonde guy I've ever known." Nora said solemnly as she patted his arm.

"Nora I'm not dying and second? Who's the first?" Nora grinned.

"Isn't it obvious? Your dad is the best." Jaune rolled his eyes and bid farewell to his friends, promising to meet up with them at lunch.

Jaune stepped up a couple of steps to the main complex of the school. His first class for the day was a culinary class that was located on the opposite side of the main building.

The school was split into four two story buildings. There was the main building that held most of the elective classes, such as psychology, business, art, and now culinary.

The west building was mainly used by the various levels of English classes along with foreign languages. The east building housed mathematics, computer science, and other science courses. Lastly the north building is where the physical education and the sports equipment and teams were housed along with the various clubs of the school.

As Jaune entered a pristine commercial kitchen with a few dozen other students, he couldn't help but feel awed at the sight. He always found cooking to be interesting, something that had quickly become a favorite hobby of his that he'd practice with his father.

Over the next hour the teacher who was an experienced chef of twenty years prior in the field, working either in restaurants or as a private chef started to get down to business. She went over the fundamentals of sanitation practices that must be followed no matter what.

Jaune could see and hear a few students grumble about her being some uptight teacher. However Jaune didn't think of it like that. The class was in a sense a training course on how to function efficiently in a real kitchen, where they strictly follow the rules of the Food and Health Codes.

The next class was Valean History, Jaune also enjoyed this class. It was exciting to see the actions and events that lead to decisions that affected not only the nation but other nations as well even in this day and age.

After History was English which wasn't bad but nor was it a fun class. Though there were certain parts that were discussed that would be particularly interesting in the months to come, such as books to read.

Before Jaune knew it, the shrill bell of lunch sounded throughout the school, and Jaune could feel his stomach growl slightly at the thought of food.

Though mentally Jaune recoiled knowing that school lunches, while they were filling, weren't the tastiest meals out there. On the bright side he'd get to sit and chat with his friends.

Signal had two cafeteria's and even than it can be a little crowded at the start as ravenous teens flocked to get the best pieces of lunch while they could. Generally speaking the juniors and seniors allotted themselves one cafeteria while the freshman and sophomores took the other.

Jaune wasn't sure why that was the case; as far as he knew it was always the case. Though it didn't mean that they didn't mix at all, just that they mostly hung out with people in their grade.

Jaune got into line and looked around to see if she could spot Ren or Nora, but in the mass of students he was among it was hard to see them.

He picked up a tray with mash potatoes, gravy, a few slices of ham and mixed vegetables. Along with a bottle of water, he looked around but could see nothing but tabled filled with people.

"Great." He muttered to himself, in his periphery he saw an empty table at the far end of the cafeteria. Jaune headed over there, and sat down. The table was in a corner so Jaune could see the cafeteria in front of him without anyone behind him.

He saw a shock of orange hair in the distance, as people temporarily cleared his vision just in time to see Ren and Nora getting in line. He pulled out his phone and sent a quick message to Ren telling him where he was sitting.

Jaune began eating some of his food as he waited, soon enough Nora and Ren sat down opposite with him.

"How was your guy's day so far?" Jaune asked Ren simply shrugged while Nora looked ready to die.

"Gah it was soooo boring, I swear we should just have the first few days of school off early, because all of my teachers so far have simply gone over the course syllabus and then just had us sit there for the rest of the period." Jaune took a sip of his water, before tilting his head in thought.

"Well that doesn't seem so bad, it's not like they're giving you classwork or homework to do on the first day." Nora snorted and unzipped her backpack that was covered the sloth stickers and pulled out a stack of papers.

She held them out for Jaune to look at and he grabbed them and flipped through them. Grimacing at how it seemed like the teachers expected their students to immediately begin getting ready for tests and completing dozen page long worksheets.

"Wow, that's kind of bullshit, what did they think you bought study guides or text books in summer to prepare for the class?" He said handing them back.

"I know it's ridiculous." Nora replied as Jaune looked at Ren.

"What about you Ren, anything interesting?" Ren set his plastic fork down which still held some spinach from his salad on it.

"Actually there was something." Nora smiled and leaned in close.

"Oh, is this gossip I smell?" Ren shook his head.

"I wouldn't really call it gossip but apparently there was some new girl in class." Nora frowned.

"So?" Jaune realized what this could lead too, so he started to slide down the bench away from Nora.

"Well apparently she's some MMA star from Sanctum who transferred over this year; it was quite a stir considering that she played on a number of teams that which whenever they were against one of our teams she was single handily the star of the entire game as she crushed her us or any other team." Jaune blinked at that.

"Well that is actually something rather interesting, she give any reason why she transferred?" Ren simply shrugged.

"Nothing to it really, just that her parents got a job here so she's attending this school." Nora pouted then immediately brightened up.

"Wait maybe she's lying and really she's a secret agent that's after a magical girl who's in a coma under the school or some villain that's looking for the codes!" Ren and Jaune exchanged looks.

"Codes to what?" Jaune asked, and Nora shrugged.

"How would I know, I'm not a secret agent." Jaune scratched his chin in thought.

"Maybe but maybe you're just a sleeper agent and just have to hear the right word that'll make you fall asleep but your mind switches over to its secret agent side and you go on missions." Ren gave Jaune a quick glare as the bell signaling that lunch was over rang.

"Well I'll see ya later." Jaune called out as they split off, there was two more classes left in the day before he could head home. The next class was psychology, it was an interesting class but the teacher was peculiar, especially in her habit to randomly scream.

As the bell rang, Jaune felt slightly elation that his final class for the day was the weight training class. Jaune headed over to the locker rooms to get assigned his locker to store his exercise clothes when Cardin walked into the locker room with his usual arrogant swagger.

Jaune did his best to ignore him, but he could hear the deep haughty laugh as he made fun of some of the other guys in the locker room who weren't the most fit around.

"Hey boss it's that fag, Jaune." The nasally whine of Dove Bronzewing, came from behind him as he stuffed his bag into his locker. He could hear the footsteps of Cardin and his witless cronies gathering behind him.

"Hey there Jauney boy, ya know I always had a feeling you enjoyed watching real men sweat, but that's fine I guess, sucking men's dick probably would be your specialty." Cardin said, as Dove, Sky, and Russel stood watching for teachers.

"Say Jaune boy, if ya want maybe you can show me some skills for a few bucks." Jaune slammed the locker closed and turned around. Cardin had a height advantage over Jaune, so he was forced to look up at his sneering face.

"Oh did little Jauney grow a pair of balls or did you feel enough balls over the summer that you're acting like you have a pair." Jaune simply smiled.

"That's funny I heard you're cunt of a mother was trying out a new job as being a human bicycle for five bucks." Cardin's face turned beet red but before he could do anything Russel gave a loud but obviously fake cough.

Cardin's face scowled in annoyance and walked away as Coach Elba the varsity baseball coach and instructor for their weight training class turned the corner. The rest of Cardin's cronies gave their own dirty glares as they walked away.

"You know he's gonna target you now." A deep voice said from Jaune's right, he turned to see the senior and captain of the Kendo team Yatsuhashi Daichi. Jaune did a mental whistle at how tall the guy was if Cardin was tall then Yatsuhashi was a giant.

"Ya know you should play football, definitely would be a shoe in for a scholarship." Jaune replied instead, Yatsuhashi smiled a little.

"True but I prefer to follow the path paved by time than the path paved by man."

"What?"

"Football is boring."

"Oh." Jaune said as a smile started spreading across his face and stuck out his hand.

"Jaune Arc, please to meet ya." Yatsuhashi gripped it returned and Jaune felt amazed to see his hand dwarfed by the older student.

"Yatsuhashi Daichi, a pleasure to meet you as well Jaune Arc."

"Also about what you said earlier I appreciate the warning but sometimes you gotta do what's right instead of what's safe." Jaune said trying to imitate Yatsuhashi earlier response; it must have worked because the big guy actually laughed.

"Those are wise words to live by Jaune Arc, just remember to never regret what you do, whether it's a mistake or not, because every result is a lesson in waiting." Jaune just shook his head, as he changed clothes.

"Alright hurry up everyone! Head to your respective classes now please!" Coach Elba yelled in the locker room.

Jaune switched into a pair of gym clothes, which was really just a pair of black shorts, sneakers, and a spare white t-shirt.

Jaune made his way out into the hallway, towards the gym. He looked around to see that there were at least thirty of them in the class. Cardin was standing off with his cronies, though Jaune could see that he was eyeing him intently.

Now that he had time to reflect on his actions he wasn't surprised to feel slight regret for talking like that. He wasn't sure why he did that but ultimately there was no going back on it, if he tried to say sorry Cardin would be all over him. He if didn't well Cardin would still be all over him most likely.

The door to the gym swung open as one of the teacher assistants opened the door, she was a short girl with long black hair. As far as Jaune knew she was a striker on the school's soccer team, Melanie or maybe Miltia, Jaune wasn't sure.

Stepping inside Jaune looked around to see a large room. To his left was a few dozen treadmills, on his right was row upon row of exercise machines, beyond them was the area for bench-pressing and other free weight equipment.

In front of him was a door that leads to Coach Elba's office. To the right of the door was a large rack of dumbbells that were lined up in front of a large mirror.

"Alright get your butts in there, pick up a progress chart in the office and make sure to have it filled out what you did and turn it in, that'll be your grade. Otherwise that's it, if there's anything you need help with come find me or my assistant Melanie." Jaune shrugged and got a sheet than immediately started to do stretches.

However it was at that point that there was a lot of hubbub that seemed to ripple through the boys. Jaune ignored it, so did Yatsuhashi and a few others who were more focused on working out. Jaune stepped forward from his stretches and picked up a pair of twenty pound weight and started to curl them.

It was only then that he noticed a tall girl, about six feet tall with red hair that was tied into a pony tail that wore black gym shorts and a red sports bra looking at him.

"You know it's rude to stare." Jaune said aloud, as he set down the weight and picked up a forty pound dumbbell, he held it above but behind his head at a ninety degree angle. Raising it up slowly then lower it back down and repeating the process.

Shifting his gaze over to her in the mirror he could see that she was blushing, probably out of embarrassment. However instead of leaving she stepped forward and took a forty pound weight as well and started to due overhead triceps curls as well.

"I'm sorry; it's just that I think we ran past each other earlier this morning." She spoke up, and Jaune was puzzled.

"This morning?"

"Yea, you were running and I passed by you. I think I'm sorry I must have the wrong person." She said, Jaune focus on his repetitions loosened up and he recalled what happened earlier.

"Oh yea, I totally remember, you were really gassing it earlier." Jaune said nonchalantly, there was a slight squeak and Jaune frowned but kept looking forward.

"W-w-was I really?" Her voice seemed to be a little shaky, was she getting tired already?

"Yea, you were bookin' it so hard that even though I was sprinting you still easily overtook me." Jaune finally set the forty pound dumbbell down and turned to look at her.

He was immediately surprised to see how pretty she was, she had pale white skin that seemed incredibly soft. Along with that she had long flowing red hair that was tied into a high pony tail to keep out of the way. He made eye contact with her and could see that her eyes were vivid green, and really cute.

She also seemed to have really red cheeks; Jaune wasn't sure why that was. He reckoned that she was someone who worked out regularly as well seeing that she had well toned arms and abdomen as well.

"Could you not stare so much?" She said, and Jaune shook his head a little as he realized what he was doing.

"Fuck, I'm so sorry, it's just that you were so like red face and I was just wondering why because you seem like you work out a lot, I. Uh. I'm a weirdo; I'll leave you alone now." Jaune said as he bowed his head both out of shame at himself and to apologize.

However what he didn't expect was to hear her laughing, well that wasn't true he was used to hearing a girl laughing at him.

"Its fine, you apologized now so you don't need to feel bad about it." Jaune nodded glumly.

"Well I'll leave you to your workout. Uh." Jaune paused as he realized that he hadn't even asked her for her name. Sensing his hesitation she simply smiled and interrupted his internal meltdown.

"Pyrrha. Pyrrha Nikos." He smiled in attempt to hide the ever growing embarrassment.

"Ah, well Pyrrha nice meeting you, my name is Jaune Arc, anyways I'll leave you to your workout." Jaune said and with all the dignity he could muster walked away towards the free weight section of the gym.

Some of the guys seemed to be fixated on Pyrrha, which Jaune clucked at that. They were just going to hurt themselves if they tried working out distracted like that.

He stood over an empty barbell, and looked around for where the plates were kept. Jaune picked up two, twenty five pound plates and slipped them on. Moving around, he lay down on the bench and gripped the barbell shoulder length apart.

Taking a deep breath and releasing it as he lifted the bar up, keeping his arms straight and the barbell over his chest. He took another deep breath as he lowered the bar till it was nearly touching his chest, then exhaling he pushed up, and then repeated the process.

As Jaune racked the bar, he got up and pulled the twenty five pound plates off. He picked up two forty five pound plates, sliding them on the bar, then the twenty five pound weights.

Lying back down on the bench he did the same process as before, however halfway through, Pyrrha once again showed up in his vision.

"You know you're supposed to have a spotter." Jaune merely nodded as he focused on his breathing. He could see her roll her eyes.

"I'll spot for you then you can do the same for me." Jaune wasn't sure what to say so he just focused, after his thirtieth repetition Jaune could feel his arms burning from effort. Thinking that was enough for, he decided to rack the bar He could feel Pyrrha guiding the bar as he racked it and stood up, wiping the sweat from where his head was.

"Alright, I'll spot you now, how much do you wanna start with?" Jaune asked but Pyrrha had already taken off the twenty five pound plates and took up position on the bench.

"I'll keep it light for now." She said and Jaune wasn't sure if she was serious or not, but she lifted the bar off and began bench-pressing.

Jaune simply shrugged as he took up spotting position, and soon enough the two started to take turns spotting each other. As they took turn spotting each other, they talked about themselves, Jaune told her about his dream to join the military like his father and Pyrrha told him about going to college.

Jaune was surprised to find out that she was the girl Ren had spoken about coming from Sanctum High School in Mistral. Jaune did find it believable that she was a star athlete after working out with her. After doing five sets of thirty Jaune was tired but Pyrrha barely worked up a sweat.

As the bell rang for school to be over, Jaune turned in his chart in Coach Elba's office, he turned to leave the gym.

"Jaune?" A voice called from behind him and he turned to regard Pyrrha.

"That's my name." He replied with a grin and Pyrrha surprisingly laughed a little.

"It was nice meeting you."

"Likewise, Pyrrha, I'll see tomorrow." Jaune said and was about to leave again when she called out.

"Jaune wait!"

"Yea Pyrrha?" She looked a little bashful now as he looked at her, maybe she was shy.

"I was wondering, if ya know, you could show me around the school sometime, I'm still unfamiliar with the layout and all that." Jaune blinked in surprise at such a simple thing.

"Oh, well sure why not." He said and she smiled in relief for some reason that escaped Jaune's mind, they traded numbers and went their separate ways.

* * *

 **Later that Night…**

Jaune sat at the desk in his room scrolling through a popular video sharing site when he received a text from Ren.

Opening it, Jaune could see that it was a link to a video. Which was rare to receive something like this from Ren, normally it was just Nora who was sharing a link to some popular video that's going viral. Jaune clicked the link and it took him to a channel that was made from an independent news organization.

Jaune scrolled through the list of videos, there was a string of new videos that had been posted. All of them were talking about some press conference that was being held in Vacuo. Jaune was about to press it when Pyrrha texted him.

-Hey, Jaune you busy?- The messaged popped up and Jaune tapped it.

-No, what's up Pyrrha?-

-Jaune about showing me around school, I didn't actually say when but you think we can do that Friday? If so, would you like to meet up at the school or beforehand?-

-Uh, I'm okay with either really, which do you prefer?-

-I'd prefer meeting up before going to school.-

-Sure. What's your address?- She gave it to him and Jaune was surprised to see that she lived only a street over from him.

-I'll let you know when I'm outside your place.-

-Kay, I'll see you Friday then.-

Jaune set aside his phone and stretched his arms before getting ready for bed. He opened the door to go brush his teeth but someone jumped on him.

"Jaune!" Nessa cried out, Jaune wrapped his arms around her to keep her from offsetting his balance.

Nessa Arc, the youngest of the Arc family was nine years old with light blond hair going down to the small of her back and eyes taking after their mother.

"Whoa Nessa, what's up?" She looked up at him, flashing her little sister puppy eyes at him, and Jaune could feel his eye twitch in an effort to break its influence.

"Nessa Arc, you get back here right now." His mother appeared at the doorway, with her arms crossed, the index finger of her right hand tapping impatiently. Jaune gulped, everyone in the house learned not to upset their mother.

"Buuuut Mom I wanna stay up with big bro!" Nessa cried out, her grip tightening around him.

"Oh is Jaune planning to stay up late on a school night as well?" Arabella asked turning her gaze up to him.

"No ma'am I was just going to go get ready for bed right now." Nessa looked up at him with the look of betrayal shining in her eyes.

"Nessa, don't you wanna be a big girl?" Nessa nodded, Jaune set her back down onto the ground.

"Well if you go to sleep, then you go to school and the faster go to school the quicker you become an adult, but you can't do good at school if you're falling asleep in your desk now can you?" Jaune asked Nessa nodded glumly.

"Come on Nessa, show me that pretty smile." Jaune said a smile of his own forming on his face, he could see Nessa trying not to smile back but she failed flashing him a wide smile.

"That's my baby sister; now off you go to bed." Jaune said, taking a page out of Nora's book and tapping Nessa's nose softly, of which she let out a giggle.

"Thank you, now you go to bed also mister." Arabella said as Nessa scampered out of his room, with a stern look but Jaune could see the mirth in her eyes as well.

As Jaune got into bed, he turned on his phone again, the screen was still on the messages that he had traded with Pyrrha.

He started to think about her, she was really pretty and seemed like a nice person. Jaune wondered if she'd want to be friends, maybe he could ask if she wanted to tagalong with him to Ren's place this Saturday.

As Jaune drifted to sleep, he couldn't help but think that this year was going be great.

* * *

 **The Next Day…**

Jaune walked down the street, texting to Ren and Nora that they can go on without him. As he rounded the corner he looked up to see that he had arrived to the address that Pyrrha gave him.

He was wearing a pair of loose jeans with black converse shoes, a white V-neck and a blue button up shirt.

In front of him was a two story house with an attached garage to the right side. The house looked to be constructed with wood and marble with several large windows that he could see extending to the side of the house. There wasn't any car in the drive way, so Jaune started to wonder if she actually got a ride to school and forgot to tell him.

He walked up the driveway, admiring the immaculate lawn and garden that surrounded a stone path up to the front door. Jaune felt somewhat nervous as he approach the glass double front door, and as he was about to knock when it flung open.

"Gah!" Jaune yelled in surprise while Pyrrha yelped in surprise as well. They starred at each other for a second before laughing.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you Jaune." Pyrrha said, Jaune smiled and shook his head.

"Nah, its fine Pyrrha, should we go now?" She nodded, smiling as she stepped past him; Jaune caught the brief scent of cinnamon.

Jaune took stock in what Pyrrha looked like; she was wearing an open dark blue cardigan over a long white shirt that poked out from under it. Along with that she wore dark skinny jeans that ran down her long legs to black shoes.

"Jaune?" He snapped his head up to see Pyrrha staring at him confused.

"Oh I'm sorry did you say something?" She just nodded slowly before continuing walking, Jaune cursed silently to himself at being so weird.

"So as I was saying earlier it's kind of freaky about what's happening in Vacuo lately."

"Vacuo?" Jaune asked, confused on what she meant, Pyrrha looked back at him surprised.

"Haven't you been watching the news lately?" Jaune shook his head.

"Well apparently there's some big flu epidemic that's going on over their now, it's so bad that they're starting to Quarantine people, and there's been a few rumors of Martial Law going into effect. Though earlier this week they were reporting animal like attacks and an increase of homicides but now there's no a sign or reports of that. It's all kind of freaky." Jaune remembered seeing something like that Monday.

"Ah well it's probably nothing, just the government laying down some preemptive actions to prevent a panic or anything." Jaune mused aloud, Pyrrha glanced at him.

"Why?"

"Well whenever there's some big disease or some crazy doomsday preacher that convinced people something big is gonna happen people go nuts. Like remember that big doomsday thing about five years ago about the world ending? Well it was false and people ruined their lives by spending all their money or savings doing something for the last day of earth." Pyrrha hummed slightly at this and the two walked in silence till they were across the street from the school.

"Say Jaune, aside from being a preemptive thing, what do you think the possibility of it actually being a real situation?" Pyrrha asked, Jaune tilted his head slightly both at the nature of the question and why she was so curious.

"Well judging by the initial reports of attacks and illness I suppose that the Government will be issuing an official statement some time, if not that they'll be giving an unofficial, official assessment that they're working on it. If it's getting out of hand they'll begin clamping down on public hours, like you said earlier, essentially Marshall Law. If it's even worse they'll start restricting internal then international traffic and communication then outside communication, and if things still get worse, they'll cut off ties with the outside and deploy the army." Jaune said as the crosswalk light turned green and they walked across the road. Pyrrha didn't say anything and looked over at her; she seemed to be thinking intently.

"Pyrrha?" She didn't respond, Jaune waved his hand in front of her face and still no response.

"Yo, Pyrrha." He said again while nudging her a little with his elbow and she looked up in surprise, her cheeks going red.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I guess I kind of spaced out there." Jaune smiled.

"Tell me about it, I thought you were sleep walking." Surprisingly Pyrrha laughed at his comment.

"No Jaune I was just thinking about what you said is all." Jaune tilted his head a little in thought.

"Are you really that worried? I wouldn't take stock in what I said or what you might be hearing." Jaune said as they crossed the front lawn towards the main building. A few people were giving them looks but Jaune mostly ignored them.

"Alright, well we're here with time to spare, so I guess I'll give you a little tour of Signal High School, Pyrrha." Jaune said with a warm smile on his face. Pyrrha looked him in the eyes, a smile of her own spreading across her face, and the two entered the school.

* * *

 **Later That Day…**

Jaune was racking the plates he was using to deadlift with when he saw Pyrrha in the corner of her eye. She was talking to Melanie, she looked happy to be talking with the dark hair girl, though Jaune wasn't sure if she was as thrilled. Jaune simply shook his head before turning back to lift up the last plate.

As he turned around to grab his chart he saw Cardin leaning with one hand above Pyrrha's head. He had a slimy smile over his face. What he wanted was rather clear since he wasn't even trying to hide his attempt to check out her body.

Jaune could see Pyrrha say something that made Cardin frown and Melanie laugh rather loudly. Both of the girls turned away from him and walked away. Jaune watched as Cardin's faced took a deep scowl and went his own way. Something about it filled Jaune with unease.

* * *

 **Thirty Minutes Later…**

Jaune splashed his face with cool water in the men's bathroom of the locker room. The week was over, and now it was time for the weekend and to head over to Ren's place. He wondered what kind of movie he should bring for the weekend as he left the bathroom to head over to his locker.

As Jaune changed clothes, he realized that there was no one around. He pulled out his phone and saw the time, school had ended twenty minutes ago, and it's the weekend, no one's gonna stick around here.

Slinging his bag over his shoulder he exited the building he could hear laughter and felt his blood run cold. It was an arrogant laugh that he was far too familiar with. Looking around he expected to see Cardin waiting to jump him or something.

Ever since Monday, Jaune's been expecting the repercussions of him telling Cardin off to catch up with him but nothing had happened.

Jaune decided to do the dumb thing and follow the sound of laughter. Rounding the corner of the building he headed towards the back of the building. No one really went there unless they were seeking privacy, either with a partner or for settling disputes

Jaune hugged the wall as he peered around, what he saw made his blood boil. Cardin and his normal group of cronies had Pyrrha surrounded. Jaune pulled out his phone and opened the camera, hitting record.

"Say there pretty lady, we're the most popular guys around and word has it that most of the people in this school think you're the prettiest girl here, unseating those cows like Xiao Long and uptight snobs like the Schnee. So why don't we get to know each a little, maybe we can show each other some cool moves since we're both athletes." The last part elicited a wave of snicker from his friends.

"Yea I don't think so." Pyrrha said and tried to leave but Dove and Russel pushed her back. Cardin grabbed her right arm and shoved her against the wall of the building.

"Where do you think you're going sweet cheeks, the boys and I are just trying to have some fun, now you can either enjoy it with us or don't, it doesn't matter to me cause we're gonna have fun either way." Jaune face twitched in fury at hearing this, so he took off his bag setting it on the ground and braced his phone against it.

Making sure it had a good look of the unfolding scene. Jaune stood up and turned his see Cardin's face inches away from Pyrrha.

"Whoa there Cardin I always knew you were shitty with women but this is a whole new low that I honestly didn't think you were capable of." The five teens turned to face Jaune, annoyance and angry were on Cardin's and his friends faces, while relief on Pyrrha's.

"I mean it looks to me like you were gonna rape her, and Pyrrha I'm sorry for not warning you about how much of a cunt Cardin is and how you should do your best to steer clear of him. Though I suppose after today, no one is gonna come within fifty feet of these four assholes." This brought them to realization of what's going on.

"Get him." Cardin growled, Dove stepped forward throwing a sloppy right hook, Jaune raised his arms keeping them close to his body, he turned his left side into it. Dove's fist hit weakly against Jaune's shoulder. Jaune immediately sent a right hook of his own, catching Dove in the Jaw.

The boy flopped to the ground, Sky and Russel charged Jaune. Jaune moved forward meeting them, ducking Russel's more effective jab and jumped forward, tackling Sky as he tried to kick him.

Jaune had both a height and weight advantage against Sky, bringing the teen down. Though he immediately rolled off him as Russel tried to press in on his open back. Russel sent another jab his way, but Jaune met it halfway with his forearm.

At that moment Sky came in from the side smashing his fist against Jaune's right cheek. Jaune stepped away, trying to create distance to gather himself as his cheek stung from the strike.

Shaking his head slightly he pressed in, working quickly he stepped into Sky's reach and instead up swinging up, he brought his forehead down against his.

"Fuck!" Sky yelled as he fell back clutching his forehead in pain, Russel swung at Jaune's face but he had his arms back up. He met the fist with his forearm again, and immediately struck with his right fist, catching him in the mouth.

Jaune pressed the advantage as Russel reeled back and sent up jab to his ribs with his left fist. As he brought his left fist back he lashed out with his right fist, catching him in the jaw. Russel fell to the ground, and Jaune was about to turn and face Cardin when he saw a backpack coming into his vision.

Jaune felt an explosion of pain erupt from his face as Sky swung his backpack. Reeling back he caught the backpack as Sky swung it again and could feel textbooks in it.

"That's not very nice." Jaune said as Sky blanched, Jaune pulled and Sky stumbled forward as Jaune punched in him the nose. The hit cause him to stumble a few steps back and fall down.

Jaune turned around, with his arms up ready to take on Cardin but instead saw a very surprising sight.

Pyrrha stood over Cardin as he lay on the ground with a bloody nose, moaning in pain. She looked up at Jaune and flashed him a warm smile with thumbs up.

"Holy shit." A new voice said from behind Jaune and he spun around to see Coco Adel and Fox Alistair standing there.

Coco was known for two things in school, one for her obsession with fashion, the other her proclivity for gossip. She was also the president the Journalism club which so happened to also be in charge of making the school's newspaper so it went hand in hand with her gossip network.

Fox on the other hand was just some guy as far as Jaune could tell that was incredibly silent. In the last three years, Jaune has never heard him actually say anything. None of the teachers call on him for anything, some say it's because he's mute but Jaune wasn't sure.

Coco stooped down and picked up Jaune's phone, he could see her tapping away at it, and a small chime could be heard as she pulled out her own phone. Did she just send a copy of his video to her phone?

"Kid that was badass." Coco said, as she took off her sunglasses, Fox simply nodded having nothing to say.

"Uh, thanks?" Jaune said scratching the back of his head before turning around to look at Pyrrha.

"Pyrrha? Are you alright? They didn't do anything to you?" Concerned lace his voice, in the back of his mind he couldn't help but think what would happen if he wasn't there but Pyrrha just smiled as she shook her head.

"I'm okay Jaune but thanks for helping, not many people would do that." Jaune shrugged and scratched the back of his head.

"Ah well I just do what I think is right and hope not to mess it up, plus I have sisters and I would hope that someone would come to help them as well." Pyrrha just beamed him a smile, Coco and Fox joined them.

"Hey Redhead, what did you do with Cardin, we caught the end of knight in shining armor here beating up the three lackey's but Cardin was down for the count at your feet before we got here." Coco asked, tapping her chin in thought, Pyrrha just shrugged.

"Oh, well I've been practicing Mixed Martial Arts since I was ten, so Cardin may have large muscle mass, but that doesn't mean much." Jaune made a mental note to never spar with Pyrrha. Jaune looked down at the groaning mass that was Cardin and shook his head in disgust.

"Why don't we all get out of here?" Jaune said looking at Pyrrha, Coco and Fox.

"Yes, we can let the filthy excuse of a man just wallow in its own despair." Coco said and Jaune felt a slight shiver go down his spine at the malicious in her voice but she turned to look at Jaune with a coquettish smile.

"You on the other hand, are a true man for sticking up for a woman, though you have a bravely stupid or stupidly brave for fighting outnumbered but on the plus side you're devilishly handsome so it's fine, what's your name?"

"Uh…thanks? Also my name is Jaune Arc." Jaune wasn't sure if he was being insulted or compliment but just rolled with it. However when he felt a hand smack his butt he nearly yelped in surprise, and looked at Coco to see her smiling.

"Nice to meet you Jaune Arc, you've got a firm butt, I like that." Pyrrha closed in, putting herself between Coco and Jaune.

"Ooookay, I think we should all be heading off now." Coco turned her gaze towards Pyrrha, her smile never faltering.

"Kay, I'll see you kiddies around, come on Fox." Coco said before the four of them went their separate ways.

"You want me to walk you home or anything?" Jaune asked Pyrrha nodded smiling briefly.

"Thank you Jaune but can we stop by my locker I need to get some of my textbooks out." As they walked through the white hallways of the main building, most of the students had gone home for the day. None of them said anything as they walked; Jaune wasn't sure what to say really.

"Uh…Jaune?" Pyrrha said, and he turned to look at her, it was only then as they were so close to each other that he noticed that she wore green earrings.

"Yea Pyrrha?" She wasn't looking back at him, keeping her gaze ahead of her as they walked.

"I wanted to thank you for doing what you did earlier." Jaune simply chuckled which earned a look of confusion from Pyrrha.

"It's no problem Pyrrha; you don't need to thank me for doing the right thing."

"I think I do Jaune, there are a lot of people out there that wouldn't have done what you did." Jaune chuckled slightly.

"Seriously Pyrrha its fine, a bruise or two is nothing if it means doing the right thing, so there's no need to thank me for helping a friend." Pyrrha didn't say anything as they rounded a corner in front of them was a row of blue lockers that the school provided students at orientation before school starts. Pyrrha started to unlock her locker when she turned around.

"Jaune I hope we can stay friends despite what happened today." Jaune looked at her puzzled.

"Of course we're still friends, I would never think otherwise Pyrrha, so don't worry about it, taking a few bruises for a friend just comes with the territory." Pyrrha brightened up at that but immediately frowned.

"Bruised?" Jaune nodded.

"You must not be able to see it but I can tell that I'll have some bruises Monday for everyone to see." Pyrrha looked distraught for some reason and Jaune sighed.

"Ah but don't worry about it Pyrrha, if anything I say it'll make me look more dashing." Jaune said flashing a smile and puffing up his chest a little, Pyrrha laughed a little. Jaune felt relieved, though he hoped that she wouldn't continue to blame herself or anything.

"Anyways now that you've got your things, why don't I walk you home, I walked you to school so I'll walk you home, that cool?" Pyrrha smiled and nodded, and the two teens left together.

However as the two of them were leaving the building neither of them saw a tall silver hair teen watching them.

* * *

 **Later that Night…**

Jaune was checking his belongings, normally whenever he planned to stay at Ren's place, it would be for most of the weekend. So he would need some spare clothes, his phone charger, deodorant, and his toothbrush. He packed them into a large black travel backpack he had gotten when his family had gone camping last spring.

Zipping the bag closed, he lifted it up, and all in all not even a fourth of the bag was taken up by his belongings.

"Maybe you should use something smaller." A deep voice observed behind him, Jaune turned, it was his father.

Alexander stood in the doorway dressed in a dark blue button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. The shirt was tucked into dark slacks with a black belt looped around the waist and black shoes.

The clothes only served to add to Alexander's physique, behind him Jaune could see his mother passing by and doing a double take at Alexander's behind. Jaune could hear the pat that his mother gave his father and a part of him died but Jaune simply cleared his throat to answer.

"Nah, I don't mind, I like it." Alexander nodded before stepping in, looking over Jaune's room. It was a simple room, a bed in one corner with a window above it. A desk opposite of it with a lamp and a laptop sat on the desk along with his textbooks. Alexander pulled out the chair of the desk and sat down.

"Jaune we need to talk." Jaune furrowed his eyebrows.

"Dad you already gave me that talk." Alexander snorted and pointed to the bed; Jaune shrugged and sat down on the bed.

"Son, you're eighteen, by law you're a man but in all honestly to me, you didn't become a man when you turned eighteen." Jaune frowned at that, Alexander noticed.

"Ah before you misunderstand me, what I mean is son, you were already a man far before that when you decided to start working on your goal to join the Military. Now you know how I feel about that, it isn't because I don't think you're good enough for it but the opposite. It's not good enough for you, there's a great deal of career paths out there that you would excel at should you put your mind to it. Alas I'm not here to talk about that, I heard from your mother that you been looking into getting a ride, specifically a motorcycle." Alexander fished in his pockets for a few seconds before pulling out a set of keys. Jaune could feel his heart practically skip a beat, he had gotten his license when he was seventeen and the moment he had turned eighteen he applied for a motorcycle license. Taking classes over the weekend and passing the final test before summer started.

However the newest motorcycle cost at least five thousand dollars. Which Jaune did have but parting with five thousand dollars would be more than Jaune could stomach especially.

"I talked with a buddy of mine who's got a niece with a bike of her own so he directed me to a guy to buy a brand new bike for a pretty good price; in fact it's in the garage right now. What is kind of surprising is that you missed the big object with a blue tarp over it for the past few days." Alexander said but Jaune ignored the last part as exhilaration filled his heart at this.

"Holy shit, am I dreaming?" Alexander scowled a little as he peeked over his shoulder to make sure no one heard.

"Language Jaune."

"Sorry." Alexander sighed with a wry smile before turning serious again.

"Remember this Jaune, this bike while it may be legally yours since I got the paperwork done in your name but it's still a privilege as long as you live under my roof. Doing something dumb the keys are mine, got it?" Jaune nodded vigorously.

"Alright Jaune but there's one more thing, something that your mother doesn't know about." Alexander stood up and closed the door, he took his seat again.

"As you're growing up and doing things on your own, you'll need to protect yourself. Now I know you took those boxing lessons which I heard you did well at but sometimes you need something more than your fist. Plus I see that you've must have put it to use today" Alexander gestured to Jaune's bruised eye and cheek.

"Haha, did mom tell you about that?"

"Yes she did, though you apparently told her that you simply slipped down some steps and hit your head at school. Which to be fair would just make her worry as much if you had just come clean and told her you got into a fight." Jaune grimaced.

"You can tell?" Alexander rolled his eyes.

"Come on son, I was a teen once too, I know a bruise made from a fist when I see it." Jaune scratched the back of his head.

"Ah well I had a good reason for getting into a fight." Alexander raised his hand, stopping Jaune from continuing on.

"I'm not concerned with that, if you think it was a good reason, I trust you. However as I was saying before, your fists at some point aren't going to be enough to protect you, your friends or your family Jaune, that's why I want you to have this." Alexander reached into his pockets and pulled out a card and handed it to Jaune. Jaune looked it over in his hands and his eyes widened.

"A conceal and carry permit?" Jaune knew that gun laws weren't that strict in Vale like in Atlas but the response time in obtaining the permit was long. This would have meant that his father either started the paper work since he turned eighteen or somehow pulled some strings.

"Yes, I did most of the paper work for you but you'll need to head to the nearest Precinct to submit a picture and some redundant information that you need to verbally answer. After that I'll help you purchase a gun, though mind you, you'll be paying for most of the costs so don't pick something fancy." Jaune nodded slowly, for some reason he could feel his palms get clammy as he held the card. Alexander snapped his fingers and Jaune snapped his head up looking his father in the eyes.

"Just like the motorcycle Jaune take this responsibility serious, you mess around with this, and this house will no longer have a place for you." Jaune swallowed slightly and nodded.

"Thank you dad, I won't let you down but why this? It doesn't seem like it would be necessary." Jaune said looking at his dad. Alexander didn't say anything and it was only then that Jaune noticed that he wasn't really paying attention to the current topic at all. His eyes seemed to be focus on something else that wasn't there. It only last for a few moments until Alexander focused back.

"Ah right, well I understand you're confused but as I said before, you have to look after yourself but not just that but your sisters as well. Sure you're not the oldest but aside from me, you're the only man in this house and it's your responsibility to take care of them if I'm ever in the state of which I can't do that."

"Dad is there something you want to tell me?" Jaune asked something was off about his dad.

"It's nothing Jaune, don't worry about it."

* * *

 **Earlier that Morning…**

Alexander Arc was man of many talents, he's seen and done things that very few in the civilian world would understand or empathize with.

His beautiful wife, whom he's totally devoted too, tried to understand some of the things he had done in the army during the last war. However there were just things that she would, no, could not understand.

Alexander knew Arabella would stick by his side despite that past; she even attended some of the appointments with the Veteran Affairs office for his psychological testing.

Now he ran his own military surplus supply store. Once obtaining a clean bill of health from the V.A. he was able to gain the necessary license to hold and sell some of the items in his store.

He had lots of items to sell, basic survival guides, tactical medical packs, military webbings, canteens, binoculars, rope, road flares, flashlights, knives, hatchets, tents, portable stoves. He even had a section of the store devoted to surplus weapons and even some new ones at that.

Alexander went over to that section. He tested, cleaned and maintained the weapons, out of habit and to make sure that he wouldn't sell a gun that might have a faulty part in it. He looked down at the glass counter that held the handguns.

He had a few dozen Beretta 92FS handguns, several Sig Sauer P226Rs, and a dozen variants from the Glock series. Looking up at the wall he had placed rifles and shotguns on hooks for people to see.

He carried several Remington 870 shotguns, four Mossberg 500s and a few new SPAS-12 shotguns that he had received at the end of last month.

The guy that sold them to him practically wanted to give them away for free for the price of the shotguns he wanted. Alexander essentially gave the man a pick of any item that wasn't a firearm in the store for ninety percent off. Even then the man simply thanked him and left.

Moving on from those he carried a few Remington Model 700s, and even carried two Karabiner 98k rifles. In addition he had six BM-59 rifles that someone had sold to him for dirt cheap, along with a few models of the M40 and two M110 rifles.

Lastly what gun section wasn't complete without a few automatic weapons?

Alexander looked to his left towards the wall mounted plastic cabinet of the weapons. He could see seven Stag Arms Model 3 rifles, six Stag 10 rifles and six Bushmaster Adaptive Combat Rifles.

He even had taken Jaune out to shoot some of the weapons he owned as well, especially considering Jaune's intent to join the military.

Alexander wasn't too keen to see his only son go off to the military; sure there wasn't any sign of conflict now. However there were always bandit groups that preyed on both civilian and military groups that travel outside the protection of the Four Kingdoms.

He sighed, it didn't matter what he say to the boy. Jaune was set on doing this and all Alexander can do was stand by his side when he needed him.

There was a chime indicating that someone had just walked through the front door. Alexander turned around from inspecting the weapons when he saw a familiar face.

"Ah Qrow, what brings you in today?" Dressed in his uniform Qrow Branwen was a Staff Sergeant for the Valean Police Department; he was also someone Alexander met quite often at the local shooting range. After a while they started to talk and became friends, or so Alexander at least liked to think.

The man had a habit of always stopping by his store whenever he was assigned to the patrol the area so that would probably indicate that he must have liked Alexander's company.

"Nothing much Alexander, just thought I'd stop by, ya know, take a breather and talk." Alexander narrowed his eyes a little.

"Take a breather? Did something happen?" Alexander asked as he pulled out two chairs from behind the counter, indicating for the man to sit.

The man looked more haggard than normal which is saying something. Alexander had driven the man to his apartment more than once after a hard night of drinking.

His red eyes had a spaced out look that suggested that what he was seeing wasn't really there. Alexander was half tempted to take the man home right at that moment but an explosive exhale drew him out of that thought.

"Man this shit is getting crazier and crazier." Qrow said running a hand through his hair.

"What do you mean?" Qrow leaned his head back, covering his eyes with one hand.

"Alexander I can trust you right?" Alexander blinked in surprise.

"Of course, anything you say that you want kept secret, I'll take to the grave." Qrow snorted at that a little.

"Alright then, it's about earlier today, I was providing back up to a domestic disturbance call down by the docks." Alexander held up a hand stopping Qrow, and stood up. He walked towards the front door and locked it, while turning over the sign that said the store was open. Alexander went back to his seat as Qrow starred at some of the items on the shelves nearby.

"So, what happened? You seem a little on edge right now" Alexander observed.

"A little? Fuck Alexander shit is about to hit the fan, you know what's going on in Vacuo?"

"Yea? They said something about Martial Law being implemented and a travel restriction of all civilian and commercial craft."

"Well it's about to get worse."

"What's getting worse? Qrow quit jerking my chain and tell me."

"Alright fine. So as I said I was responding to a call about a domestic disturbance, when I got there, there was already four other officers. The initial responder told me that shots were heard coming from an apartment on the third floor, so I radio in for backup and talked with the owner of the building and she told me that the tenant had family visiting from Vacuo but they couldn't return because of the travel restriction. However that morning a few other people heard screaming coming from the place, no one did anything, you know the classic bystander bullshit but when they heard guns shots. Well that's when someone had to balls to notify the building owner who went up to check it but she couldn't get the door opened and called the Police saying that she thinks the someone's hurt or worse. So anyways we head upstairs, calling out to the people inside but no response. So we took matter into our own hands and broke down the door. However it looks like someone barricade the thing with the couch, we go in to see a man with a shotgun sitting in the hallway across from a door, the back of his head and brains were all over the wall. I call out to see if anyone else is there but no response. So I try the door he was sitting across from but it was locked so me and David Reed, good guy, we knock down the door and inside we see a fucking blood bath. The asshole in the hallway had apparently killed his family, his wife, his mother, father, brother. However what was missing was the daughter, the owner expressed concern earlier about the nine year old girl getting hurt so we look for her and David finds her. She's hiding in the closet covered in blood and has a big ass wound on her forearm, David reaches out to her, here's where things get weird, and she bites his hand, like really bites it. David is trying to pry the girl off his hand and I go in the stop her, so I wrap one arm around her waist and another around her neck. She's ice cold and I pull hard, she fucking rips a chunk out of his hand and I throw her into the corner of the room and she comes at me." Qrow started to choke up and Alexander could feel his heart hammer in his chest as he knew where this was going.

"I…I…I don't fucking know, I just was working on instinct at that moment and I pulled out my 1911 and put three rounds in her chest and she goes down like a sack of potatoes." Qrow's eyes were looking down at the floor.

"That's not the worst part, what's worse was that she looked like my youngest niece when she was that age. It got me thinking what if that was Ruby, what if I had shot Ruby because I wasn't thinking straight." Alexander looked to the younger man with sympathy; killing was never an easy thing to do, especially when it involves those that remind a person of their own loved ones.

Man made their enemy looks like demons in order to cope with the idea of killing another human being. However in sense it was true, people were demons in disguise. Mankind's greatest enemy in this day and age was itself.

"Qrow you going to be alright?" Alexander asked and Qrow just nodded.

"Fuck I don't know, the I.A. assholes will have me grounded for weeks if not months dealing with this publicity nightmare that was going to happen. Police shootings are always a strain on the Department when people come after them for doing their job but now a cop shooting a kid? Fuck I'd be surprised if I'm still on the Force."

"Qrow you're a good guy and I understand things are a tense for you, so do yourself a favor just take this time to relax. You've been through a lot today kid and trust me I've been some shitty days myself." Alexander said Qrow just shook his head as he started to look even more serious.

"I get it man, I really do but I have this gut feeling that things aren't going to be normal anymore. When I grabbed that little girl, she was stone cold, and when I looked at her and the other bodies I noticed that most of them had abnormal wounds that weren't done by the shotgun."

"What do you mean?"

"Well hear me out, this is all speculation but it looked like they attacked each other first, and the husband killed them except for himself and his daughter with the shotgun. I checked him after I noticed he had a wound like on the others on his calf. Along with that he locked the door from the outside and block the main entrance, for some reason I feel as if he was trying to keep us out but not for the reason we might think." Qrow mused before standing up; Alexander stood up with him and held his hand out. Qrow shook it, looking him in the eyes.

"Take care of yourself and your family, friend." Qrow said while Alexander simply nodded. Qrow turned to leave but stopped right at the door and turned around again, gesturing at the entire room.

"You may want to start saving some of this stuff for yourself."

* * *

 **Present Time…**

Jaune watched as his father left the room, and lay back onto his bed. Despite the exhilarating news of getting a motorcycle it was left with a bitter taste in his mouth as he looked at the permit in his hand.

He essentially could walk around with a load gun, which could kill people. It was a little odd in how his father thought that it was important for him to have it.

A small part of his mind flashed to what happened earlier with his father. Jaune knew that he had things to deal with on an emotional or mental trama due to his time in the military.

However this was different, it was the look of a man who was remembering a deep-seated fear. There was a loud vibration sound as his phone went off on his desk. He picked it up and saw that it was a text message from Ren.

-Hey dude, you coming tonight or in the morning?-

-I'll come in a little bit, though I've got a surprise for ya'll-

-Wait…What kind of surprise?-

-Don't worry; it isn't like that time when Nessa gave Nora coffee.-

-Good, cause I might have to kill you if it was.-

-Seriously though it's gonna be cool-

-It's a motorcycle. - Jaune blinked as he reread the message and typed furiously.

-What!? How do you know!?-

-Your parents told me-

-What.-

-Don't worry Nora doesn't know so I'll act surprised for her-

-You're a dick- Jaune set aside his phone and sat up. He looked over towards his desk and saw the permit was still on it. He sighed and picked before sliding it into his wallet before standing up to get dressed.

Walking down stairs Jaune wore a black V-neck, worn blue jues and black converse with his bag slung over his shoulder.

Arabella and Alexander were standing at the bottom of the steps; Arabella held a slightly strained smile on her face.

"Hey mom, did dad tell you what I got?"

"Of course and while I'm not fully supportive of the idea of you on a bike, your father convinced me if I was allowed to pick the gear." Jaune raised one eyebrow in confusion as she took him by the hand and led him to the living room.

The living room was where the family gathered to watch films or play games together. Though it could be very difficult to pick and watch something with seven sisters, which led to Jaune spending more time on this laptop.

There were three couches that surrounded a large coffee table on three sides. Opposite of them was a large fifty six inch flat screen television set.

Numerous photos lined the family of the various family members and events that they had taken in their lives together.

Nessa, Helena, Claire, and Miriya all sat around on the couches. They were poking away at motorcycle equipment that Jaune assumed was now his.

The first thing he saw was a white and black hard shell chest guard that would cover his chest, back and shoulders. Then there were two match knee guards that would extend down to his ankle, next to them he spotted black gloves.

"Jaune! You got a motorcycle!" Nessa yelled as if she was the one breaking the news to him, though it was slightly muffled by the fact that she wore a white helmet with a black tinted visor.

"Nessa take off the helmet will ya." Claire said as she reached over to lift the far too large helmet from Nessa's head, who pouted at the older girl. Jaune grinned as he looked over the equipment before Helena spoke up.

"Well? Put the stuff on already, we wanna see." Jaune spent the next ten minutes trying to figure out how to put on everything. It was relatively simple once he did find where all the latches and straps where for it. Soon he had the last of the gear on and stood before everyone.

"Dang Jaune, looking good in that stuff." Miriya said, Helena and Claire nodding in agreement admiring him in his gear. Alexander stepped in before Arabella could fuss over Jaune and patted him on the back.

"Well son, time to show you, your new ride so you can get on your way, don't wanna show up late to Ren's house." Jaune nodded, he wasn't quite sure what to say at the moment due to the excitement.

Alexander led them to the garage, opening the door and flicking on the light. Four lights illuminated the room casting a pale glow around everything. Jaune saw in the corner the tarp that his father had mentioned earlier.

"Wow, how did I miss that?" Jaune mused aloud; Helena spoke up from behind him.

"From what I hear at school you're pretty oblivious to a lot of things." Miriya and Claire snickered but Arabella appeared behind the girls, with a sweet but deadly smile obvious on her face.

"What sort of things is my sweet baby boy oblivious too?" The two girls immediately went quiet; Jaune on the other hand didn't hear them. He was far too enthralled by what was under the tarp; he looked down at Nessa who was holding onto his helmet.

She flashed him an excited smile of her own and he stepped forward reaching out for the tarp. He pulled it off to reveal a brand new red Yamaha FZ-07.

"This must be the most amazing day of my life." Jaune breathe as he ran a hand over the leather of the seat. As he was about to climb on he stopped, and walked towards his parents and hugged them.

"I love you guys." Jaune said and Arabella patted his cheek.

"We love you also Jaune, sorry we couldn't get you another color we know that you're not a big fan of red." In Jaune's mind, he saw a flash of Pyrrha and her hair. He shook his head, a small smile forming on his face.

"Its fine mom, thank you." She smiled.

"Well you better get going son." Alexander said as he reached over to the wall behind him and hit the garage door switch. Jaune grinned and head back to his new bike. He climbed back on and slotted the key into the ignition and turned it on.

The bike roared to life and he could see Nessa get startled at the sudden sound. He smiled reassuringly down at her and she gave her best smile back.

"Nessa give Jaune his helmet." Alexander said calmly, Nessa looked down at it before looking back up and handing it to Jaune.

"Can I ride with you Jaune?" Nessa asked as Jaune took the helmet, he shook his head.

"Sorry kiddo not this time, maybe another time." Nessa pouted a little then Jaune rubbed the top of her head, messing up her hair. She frowned in annoyance but it quickly wore off as she smiled again.

Jaune slipped the helmet on, and lifted the visor up. He lifted up the kickstand and shifted to neutral before backing down their driveway. His family watching him, as he made it to the street, he could see his sisters waving.

He shifted to first gear and started to move forward, waving back to his family as he did before turning around and speeding up to second then third gear.

It was an amazing feeling to be on a nimble vehicle, as he reached the corner he couldn't help but look at Pyrrha's house. The lights were off save in one window but no cars in the driveway, was she home alone? Jaune mentally shook his head before going back to driving, now wasn't the time to get distracted.

In a sense Jaune was kind of sad that Ren lived so close to him, as he was unable to enjoy riding his new bike.

He could see a certain orange hair girl and black hair teen waiting on the sidewalk for him. As he pulled in closer Nora noticed him.

"Whoa, Jaune is that you?" She asked amazement evident on her face before turning into excitement.

"Oh my god! You got a motorcycle!?" Jaune chuckled as he turned off the bike, and climbed off. Nora grabbed Jaune by the arms and started shaking him.

"Quick! Do a wheelie!" She said as Jaune wondered if he could die by having internal bleeding in his head by the shaking.

"Nora, that's enough, Jaune's still new to riding so he won't be doing any wheelies soon." Nora pouted and crossed her arms in displeasure.

"Well let's head inside." Ren said as the three of them headed inside.

The Ren family lived in a modest thirty five hundred square foot home. Entering through the wooden front door, Jaune was in a well light entryway, photos of Nora, Ren and his parents lined the wall. Jaune took off his shoes, and set them aside as he started to unbuckle his riding gear.

He found a use for the extra room in his travel backpack by putting in the gloves, knee guards in it while looping the chest guard on the outside with a strap. Making sure they were secured he picked up the bag and walked deeper into the home. From the entry way Jaune entered in the living room, two couches were lined up on his right.

Opposite of them was a glass table on which sat cookies and chips on plates or in bowls. There were also a few plates of pancakes, though Jaune knew that Nora would eat them before any of them could. Though he figured that was Ren's way to keep Nora from gravitating to something she shouldn't.

There were three doors in the living room. The furthest away was a glass swinging door that led to the dining room and kitchen and by extension the backyard. A simple dark wood door to Jaune's right led to the garage and to Jaune's left was an open doorway to the rest of the house.

Jaune went left and walked into a long narrow hallway. Five doors were there, two on either side with the fifth at the very end. Jaune headed to the last door on the left and opened it. It was the guest room, originally it was meant for Nora but she had quickly taken to sleeping in the same room as Ren.

It was a simple room with light blue walls and a white ceiling with a dark wardrobe in the far corner. In front of the wardrobe was a single bed, next to it a small desk with a lamp on it. To Jaune's right was another door that led to a small bathroom.

Jaune set his pack on the bed and start to unpack his clothes; he had two black shirts, another pair of jeans, two pairs of socks, boxers and a few other items like his phone charger. He then proceeded to set his helmet on the desk and turned to leave but stopped as he felt his phone vibrate. He pulled it out and saw that there was a text message from Pyrrha.

-Hello Jaune! Sorry to disturb you…- Jaune stepped out into the hallway and headed back to the living room.

-Nah its fine Pyrrha. So what's up?-

-Oh nothing. I just wanted to see how you're doing, you know for getting in that fight with me, I imagine your parents must have been furious with you.-

-Well my mom was worried, but whose mom doesn't worry when their kid comes home with a bruised face, as for my old man. Well he was fine with me being in a fight as long as I was doing the right thing, which in my mind helping you is a good cause to fight for.-

\- Well thank you anyways for helping me. - Jaune rolled his eyes as he took a seat on a couch and popped a cookie into his mouth.

-Serious Pyrrha, you don't need to thank me or apologize, that's what friends are for!-

-Oh. Well then, what are you up too?-

-I'm at my friend's place, gonna stay the weekend.-

-Oh. That sounds grand! - Jaune snorted a little before typing a response.

-Grand? Anyways he doesn't live that far from where you are Pyrrha, when you arrive home you should see about coming over to hang out.- Ren walked back first through the swinging door holding a tray of drinks.

"Hey Ren, you wouldn't mind if I invited someone else would you?" Ren furrowed his eyebrows in thought.

"Invite someone else? Who?" Jaune waved his phone as if Ren could see who he was texting.

"Pyrrha Nikos, that transfer student you told me about, she's in my weight training class, so we exchanged numbers and she lives between us." Nora appeared on Jaune's left her chin resting on the arm of the couch.

"Oh you mean that girl that you fought that pussy Cardin and his cronies over?" Jaune tilted his head in confusion.

"Wait, how do you know about that?" Nora rolled her eyes.

"Duh, Coco Adel started sharing around that video of you fighting Dove, Russel and Sky. Though I have to say, I think Pyrrha would have been fine fighting them alone seeing how she kicked Cardin's ass." Ren spoke next.

"Indeed it was like watching a master demonstrating a textbook take down on a rookie." Jaune held up a hand to stop them.

"Wait, wait, wait, what do you mean?" Ren pointed to Jaune's phone which he held in his hand.

"Dude haven't you looked at the video? It's on your phone." Jaune simply shrugged, he had totally forgotten about it. Nora just sighed in frustration and poked in him the cheek.

"Well come on! Pull it out and check out how she kicked his ass!" Jaune swatted her hand away and checked his gallery for the most recent entry. He hit play on the video and fast forward a bit till he got where he needed.

He saw himself fighting Sky and Russel but he ignored that, instead focusing on Pyrrha and Cardin. As Cardin turned to face Pyrrha again she made her move, kicking straight at his torso. Jaune reckoned she hit his solar plexus as Cardin fell to his knees and looked to be struggling to breath.

Pyrrha stepped to the side and kicked Cardin in the face, the larger teen fell back. However she wasn't done, stepping forward she lifted Cardin up from the ground and started to punch him repeatedly in the face. Jaune could see that was how he had gotten the bloody nose that he had seen earlier.

After hitting him enough for her taste, Pyrrha let Cardin drop back down to the cement. Then just stand there with her arms crossed and a smile on her face as she watched Jaune fight. Jaune hit the pause button and put down the phone.

"Wow, she totally kicked his ass." Jaune said, Ren nodded in agreement, Nora stretched her arms.

"Anyways, let's start this party night!" Nora said as she munched chips with handfuls at a time. Ren lectured her a little but ultimately gave up when she put a white chocolate macadamia nut cookie in his mouth.

"I'll order us some pizza then." Jaune said Nora raised her hand.

"Oh! Make sure to order the meat lovers pizza with extra meat." Jaune grinned before looking at Ren.

"Don't worry, I'll also place that order for the veggie pizza." Ren nodded his thanks as he proceeds to turn on the television set and switch to the DVD player. Jaune opened the app for the local pizza chain and started placing orders for four pizzas, two cheese pizzas, a meat lovers and a veggie pizza. As Jaune was paying for it, he only then realized that he had received a reply from Pyrrha while ago.

-Oh. I'm actually home at the moment; my parents tend to come home late. - Jaune felt bad that he didn't respond.

-Hey, sorry about responding so late, I got caught up in something with my friends. - Almost instantly she responded.

-That's okay, I understand.-

-If you want I can pick you up and you can hang out with us. - Jaune could practically sense the hesitation from here.

-You sure? I wouldn't want to be a burden or make things awkward or anything.- Jaune looked up at Ren as he put a disc into the DVD player.

"Hey Ren, can I go bring Pyrrha?" Ren looked back at Jaune confusion obviously on his face.

"I mean I'm cool with it and I'm sure Nora is as well…" Nora's hand shot up.

"Bring her dude! I wanna hear what it was like beating up Cardin." Ren and Jaune chuckled at her enthusiasm, but Ren's face turned serious again.

"If you really want to bring her, and she's willing to come, then go ahead." Jaune grinned, and headed towards the guest room to gather his riding gear.

-Hey, I'll be over in a bit, so gather anything you might to have with you. - Jaune had finished strapping on his gear when he got another text message.

-Seriously!?- Jaune couldn't help but grin and shake his head.

-Yes! I'll be over in a little. - Jaune typed and head towards the front door to slip on his shoes. Opening the door he stepped out into the cool night.

"Wow it's already gotten dark huh?" Jaune mused; looking at his phone the time on the display only said it was eight. He headed down the driveway to where his bike was parked and climbed on.

He turned on the bike, the headlight illuminating the road and sidewalk in front of him then put his helmet on. Putting up the kickstand he shifted gears and turned around, then took off door the road. Once again the feeling of riding was awesome though short lived as he was already closing in on Pyrrha's house.

He could see that there were a few more lights on in the house but still no car in the driveway. Jaune decided to pull up into the driveway. Turning off the bike and putting down the kickstand he went up to the front door. He pulled his helmet off and held it in the crook of his right arm.

He knocked on the door, there was no sound inside so Jaune pulled out his phone and sent a message to Pyrrha saying that he was at her front door. A few moments after he sent the message he could hear the sound of someone running and a thump followed by cursing.

The front doors flew open and there stood Pyrrha. She was dressed in tight jeans, with a black cardigan over a red shirt, her hair was tied up in a high pony tail, and she also seemed to be wearing green eye shadow. Jaune thought she looked very cute, but wait, why were her cheeks so red?

"Uh…Jaune, you're staring." Pyrrha said as she looked to the side away from Jaune.

"Oh! I'm sorry but I was just thinking about how cute you look." Jaune said his eyes closed as he nodded then stopped as he realized what he just said.

"Whoa! Uh did I just say that aloud, maybe I should probably stop talking now?" Pyrrha reddened even more but surprisingly enough she actually smiled, before a low laugh sprung forth which turned into a full blown laughing fit. Jaune watched as the red hair girl broke down in laughter and soon he found himself laughing as well. After a few more moments they started to calm down.

"I'm sorry Jaune but it was just funny." Jaune smiled as he took a deep breath.

"Its fine, I thought it was funny as well, so you ready to go?" Jaune thought he saw her smile waver a little but it was gone a second later so maybe he was imagining it.

"Yea, let's go." Pyrrha said as he stepped back down the steps, she locked the door behind her and followed Jaune to the driveway and saw him getting on the motorcycle.

"Whoa, you have a motorcycle." Pyrrha said incredulously.

"Yea, I actually got it today, and besides didn't you notice the gear I was wearing when I was at your door or the helmet in my arm?" Pyrrha felt her cheeks heat up at that.

"So, uh how are we getting there?" Pyrrha asked, dreading the answer, the bike started up and Pyrrha closed her eyes briefly as the headlight came on.

"Simple really, you're gonna ride with me."

"What?!"

"I mean I'm not going to let you walk alone and I have a feeling that you don't know how to ride a motorcycle." Pyrrha looked a little nervous so Jaune took off his gloves and held a hand out. She looked at it then back up at him in surprise.

"Trust me." With those words she sighed and reached out, gripping his hand, which he mentally noted was really soft, climbing on the back of the bike. As Jaune put his gloves on, he realized that he didn't have an extra helmet for Pyrrha, so he took his off and looked over his shoulder at her.

"Before we go, I want you to put this on." She looked confused, and he handed the helmet to her.

"Safety first." He said with a grin but Pyrrha didn't return it.

"What about you?" Jaune waved a hand dismissively in front of his face.

"I'll be fine for now; I'll go out looking for an extra helmet another time in case of situations like this but for now this will have to do." Pyrrha took the helmet and ran a hand over the top before slipping it onto her head.

"Alright hold on." Jaune said as he walked them back down the driveway and onto the street. He applied some throttle and the bike moved forward, picking up speed as he shifted gears and soon the two of them were speeding down the road.

Pyrrha wrapped her arms around Jaune's waist as they sped past houses. It was weird having her arms around a boy whom she only met less than a week ago.

At first even she would have been a little perplexed by it but now that she's gotten to know him and seen him sticking up for someone that he barely knew. Pyrrha could say with confidence that she could trust him.

As the bike started to slow down she couldn't help but feel a little sad that they couldn't spend more time riding around together. The bike pulled up to a curb and the rumbling of the engine below her stopped.

"So? How was your first ride?" Jaune asked as she climbed off and pulled the helmet off her head.

"It was amazing." She said with a smile as Jaune climbed off the bike and took the helmet as she held it out for him.

"Ah well if you want, once I get some additional gear, we can go riding around some more." Jaune said as they walked up the lawn towards the house.

"I would like that." She said just as the door flung open and Nora charged out.

"Jaune! You've returned!" She said before switching to Pyrrha.

"Hi I'm Nora Valkyrie and you're very pretty, wanna be friends?" Pyrrha blinked and looked at Jaune confused, he shrugged so Pyrrha smiled and nodded her head.

"Hi Nora I'm Pyrrha Nikos and I would love to be your friend." Nora cheered and hugged Pyrrha then whispered in her ear.

"If you touch Ren, no one will find the body." Within seconds she was already at the front door beckoning for them to come in. Pyrrha looked back and forth in surprise, Jaune stopped to look at her.

"Something a matter Pyrrha?"

"I…I…No…" Pyrrha said before giving up and following Jaune into the Ren household.

Jaune closed the door behind Pyrrha and indicated to the shoes that were lined up to her right. So she took her own off and set them neatly in the corner, looking up she could see Jaune walking away as he unclasped his chest piece.

"I'mma go and drop my things off Nora, you think you can show Pyrrha around?" The bubbly orange hair girl saluted and Jaune left the two of them there. She indicated Pyrrha to follow her, and soon found herself in a living room. A black hair boy with a pink strip in it stood up from a chair and walked over to them.

"Hi, my name is Lie Ren, you can call me Ren." He said extending his hand out. Pyrrha smiled as she took it and shook it in return. In the corner of her eye she could have sworn that Nora was holding a knife.

"So, why'd you come?" Ren asked, her smile falling away at the question, Pyrrha blinked.

"I'm sorry what?" Nora rolled her eyes.

"Why did you accept Jaune's offer to come over, you barely know each other." Pyrrha wasn't sure what the sudden turnabout was for but she wouldn't be cowed by it.

"Does it matter why I accepted his offer?" Ren shrugged as he sat back down and popped a chip into his mouth.

"Let's just say it's curiosity on what's going on with the two of you."

"Jaune's able to take care of himself." Ren held up his hands.

"I know he can but he's also the kind to avoid asking for help unless he absolutely needs too or forced. Which I don't have to say can lead to him getting into trouble more than once." Pyrrha stayed silent.

"Did you know that Cardin and Jaune have a history together?" Pyrrha shook her head.

"Well it goes back to our freshman year; Jaune wasn't like the guy you're seeing now fit, strong and able to hold himself in a fight. No, back then he was only Jaune Arc, the kind hearted boy with seven sisters who was a lanky kid with good grades. Cardin was already well known as a bully and started to pick on him almost the first day, making him do his homework and the rest of his lackey's assignments on top of his own. However one Friday evening, Nora and I had enough of waiting for Jaune to do the smart thing and ask for help, so we went to his folks and told them but Jaune wasn't home. So along with Jaune's father we go back to the school and start looking for him. It turns out that Jaune had enough so he went to confront Cardin, suffice things didn't turn out well for him, we found him having been beaten senseless. Jaune had a swollen cheek, a black eye, a bloody nose, a split lip and a cut on his forehead that bled over his face so bad that Jaune's father took him to the emergency room. He got four stiches for that cut and he had a beat up face for almost two weeks." Pyrrha wasn't sure what to say, part of her wanted to ask what did that have to do with her. Another part wanted to go comfort Jaune for getting bullied and hurt like that.

"So now you can see why I don't want Jaune getting targeted again by Cardin over recent attacks, now I'm glad that he helped you in your need but I just want you to be aware that these events may bring their paths to cross far more than what I'm comfortable with."

"Then so be it." A cold voice said behind Pyrrha and she shivered as she turned around to see Jaune stand in the doorway with his arms crossed. An annoyed look evident on his face, the temperature in the room seemed to drop.

"Ren, Nora I appreciate the concern but do not hound Pyrrha over this, it's not her fault, I would have done the same for any other stranger." Ren simply stared back at Jaune while Nora looked away, Jaune smiled brightly, clapping his hands.

"Alright! I'm hungry, is the pizza here yet?" Nora quickly took up the offer to change the topic.

"Nope, they should be here soon. Say Pyrrha what kinds of toppings do you like on your pizza?" Pyrrha blinked at the sudden question.

"Hmm, I like mushrooms." Nora nodded in agreement.

"Mushrooms are nice."

"I also like meat, except for pepperoni." Nora nodded again.

"Fair enough."

"Oh! Pineapples!" Nora stared in horror at Pyrrha.

"What!? Pineapples!? You poor girl you've been deluded by the devil." Nora said with her bottom lip quivering she raced to hug the red head.

"It's okay we'll get you the help you need." Pyrrha just laughed as she returned the hug. Soon enough there was a ring of a doorbell and Jaune went to answer it, a few moments later he returned with four boxes of pizza. He set them out, side by side on the table, the smell of warm pizza wafted through the air. There was a loud grumble of a stomach, Ren and Jaune turned to Nora.

"What? That wasn't me." The three of them turned to Pyrrha who was already halfway through a slice of cheese pizza.

"Whuut?" She said through a mouthful of cheese pizza, Jaune, Ren and Nora all exploded in laughter. After the laughter died down the four teens were gobbling slices of pizza when the door opened.

"Ren? Nora?" An older female voice called out and a dusky rose hair woman in a white blouse with a black skirt walked into the room.

"Hi Mom." Ren called out, and Nora stood up with a paper plate of veggie pizza, handing it to An with one hand as she took her handbag.

"Here you go An, a slice of pizza for you, and I'll take this to your room." An smiled and cupped Nora's cheek.

"Thank you Nora." An said as she sat down next to Ren, quickly give him a peek on the forehead. Ren tried to look nonchalant about it but Jaune could see the slight red forming on his cheeks.

"So Jaune, I see that there's a motorcycle outside of our house, that wouldn't happen to be yours now would it?" An asked as she finished her slice of pizza, setting the paper plate on the table, Jaune grinned.

"Yes ma'am, it is indeed mine, I got it today." An smiled.

"I'm glad to hear that, now why don't you introduce me to your girlfriend here?" Pyrrha and Jaune blushed as An looked confused by their interaction. Ren and Nora on the other hand were doing their best not to laugh.

"Uh…actually, we're not dating." Pyrrha said her face flushed at the insinuation, An frowned slightly.

"I'm sorry but you two just look adorable together, I have no doubts that you'd have cute babies together." Jaune just sunk into the couch as Nora and Ren laughed hysterically.

"Mom, please, you're gonna kill them with embarrassment." An smiled a little before looking at Pyrrha.

"I'm sorry dear; would you like to hear about how Nora would always try to jump in the bath with Ren when they were kids or how Ren made a promise after only a month of Nora moving here that he was going to marry her?" Nora shot up, her face pale, Pyrrha grinned.

* * *

 **Three Hours Later…**

Pyrrha looked down at her phone and balked, it was eleven at night, she was having so much fun that she had lost track of time. Jaune noticed her looking at her phone.

"Something a matter Pyrrha?" She looked up at him, a strained smile on her face.

"Oh, it's just gotten so late, that I need to get home now." Jaune nodded as he stood up and headed to the hallway. Pyrrha stood up, thanking Ren, Nora and An for having her over. Nora gave her a hug and exchanged numbers with her plus giving Ren's as well. Ren nodded at her as An stood up and giving her own hug as well.

"You're welcome to come over any time Pyrrha." She said, Pyrrha smiled in return and turned around. Jaune stood at the front door with his gear on again and helmet in hand, Pyrrha blinked in surprise.

"Jaune?" He raised an eyebrow at her.

"What? I brought you here, I should at least bring you home, and beside I would never let a lady walk home alone at night, which goes double for a friend." Pyrrha smiled.

"Thank you." The two of them walked towards Jaune's bike, Jaune handed his helmet to her and she took it with a thanks.

"So, did you have fun?" Pyrrha looked up to see his face but it was too dark out.

"Yes, I had a lot of fun." Jaune couldn't help but smile when hearing that, as he climbed onto his bike, Pyrrha followed suit.

"You know, if you want you can hang out with us more, I know Nora enjoyed having you around, Ren did as well but it might be hard to see it."

"What about you?" She asked, and Jaune paused for a fraction of a second.

"Of course." What he couldn't see was that she flushed at the speed and lack of hesitation at his answer. They didn't say anything as Jaune drove them back to Pyrrha's house, as he pulled up, he couldn't help but frown at seeing that even now there was still no car.

"Hey, how come no one's home?" Jaune asked as Pyrrha took his helmet off and handed it to him.

"Oh? That's because my parents are both doctors, and they work the night shift at the hospital, so I only ever really see them in the early mornings and before they leave in the evenings." Jaune grimaced at that.

"Damn, that's rough."

"Its fine, I'm used to it."

"How come you're back here, you could have stayed longer." Pyrrha didn't say anything and Jaune couldn't see her face.

"Maybe another time Jaune." Jaune hummed a little wanting to push farther but knew it wouldn't be polite so he nodded.

"I understand Pyrrha, but seriously you can hang out with us more, like at school." Pyrrha gave her own hum before replying.

"Alrighty, thank you Jaune, I'll take you up on that."

"Hey, what are friends for?" Jaune said before taking off, Pyrrha stood there watching his receding figure.

"Friends, huh?"

* * *

 **Three Days Later…**

Jaune was putting on a grey shirt after taking shower; the air was chilly in his room. At that moment his phone chirped, picking it up, he saw that it was from Pyrrha.

-Hey, you busy?-

-No, what's up?-

-I was just wondering where I should find you guys at lunch. - Jaune smiled.

-I can show you, what's your fourth period?-

-English with Baca.-

-I've got English with Calisto, I'll meet you outside your class when lunch starts and show you.-

-Kay, you see at school! - Jaune tucked his phone into his pocket and picked up a black stand collar jacket. Turning around he saw himself in the mirror.

He wore a pair of jeans with black converse shoes, his jacket was a little snug but comfortable. It hugged his figure quite well, and while Jaune was normally a modest person even he thought he looked good. He proceeded to start strapping on his riding gear. The door to his room flung open, and Nessa came running in.

"Jaune! We're going to war!" Jaune blinked in surprise.

"What?" Helena appeared in the doorway.

"Ugh, Nessa don't be so dramatic, Vacuo officially announced that they're deploying all their armed forces for its Martial Law. Nessa just thinks that we're going to war cause Vale and Atlas have positioned their Navies outside Vacuo waters." Helena grabbed Nessa's hand pulled the younger girl away.

"That is kind of weird." Jaune said aloud, though no one was there to hear him. Jaune shrugged and slung his bag over his shoulder. As he headed downstairs, he could hear the main television set blaring with news and speculation on the Vacuo Martial Law and what it might mean economically for Vale.

"What a load of garbage, nothing but endless talks about economic effects, they're looking at the symptom and not the cause." Arabella snorted in disgust as she sat on the sofa. Jaune quirked his eyebrows at the hint of disdain his mother had for the news.

"Ah well, people see only what they want to see, not what they should see." Alexander caught Jaune in the corner of his eye.

"Ah Jaune, heading off to school now?" Jaune nodded, Arabella turned around with her arms outstretched, and Jaune sighed with a weary smile before closing in with a hug.

"Have fun at school sweetie." Jaune stepped into the garage and lift the garage door upwards. He took a deep breath of the cool breeze as it came into; relishing the chill feeling it gave his lungs.

Hopping onto his bike, he turned it on and backed it out of the garage, down the driveway. When he reached the street, he put down the kickstand and walked back up the driveway to close the garage door again.

Jaune returned to his bike, pulling up the kickstand and putting on his helmet. He gripped the handles, pulling back on the throttle; he drove forward and made his way towards school.

* * *

 **Ten Minutes Later…**

Jaune pulled into the student parking area for motorcycles, there was only one other there. It was yellow and black, with a bumblebee sticker on the side. Though he wasn't familiar with what kind of model it was.

"Huh, kind of does look like a bumblebee." Jaune muttered as he took off his helmet, a few students were looking at him and talking amongst themselves. Jaune just furrowed his eyebrows in confusion at why they were looking at him, he looked down. He still had his pants on, so there must be something else.

He switched off his bike and got off it, tucking his helmet into the crook of his right arm. As Jaune entered the back of the main building he could see more than a few people were staring at him. One kid even patted Jaune on the back, thanking him.

Jaune nodded, confusion etched on his face. He sighed, there was no point in trying to figure it out, and so he simply went to his locker to put away his riding gear. When he arrived there, there was paper stuffed into the slits of the door.

"What the?" He pulled one out, and started to read it. He blanched; it was a thank you letter from someone. They had watched the video of his fight with Cardin's cronies and thought it was admirably for finally standing up to the bully.

"This might be a problem." For the next four periods Jaune had to endure people whispering about him, looking at him, or congratulating him. He wondered how Pyrrha was handling it since she was the only who actually put Cardin on his ass.

The bell rang for lunch and Jaune remembered that Pyrrha wanted to meet up for lunch. He grabbed his bag and headed out of his English class, looking around as people crowded the hallway.

"Jaune!" A familiar voice called out and he turned to the source of the sound, he spotted a familiar color of red. He waited as people cleared out in front of him and took that moment to head towards Pyrrha. As they got closer he could see Pyrrha.

She was wearing a red skirt with black yoga pants on underneath, with a dark red and grey cardigan with a white shirt underneath it. A small portion of Jaune's mind was drooling, but he reined it in and smiled.

"Hey Pyrrha, you ready to go?" He asked and she smiled.

"Yup! Lead the way." She said energetically, Jaune just chuckled as they turned to leave. As they left the English wing of the building, they headed outside towards the Junior and Senior cafeteria. Jaune could see that a few people were staring at them and talking.

"Hey Pyrrha, can I ask you something?" She glanced to the side towards him, confusion in her eyes.

"Sure, what's on your mind?"

"Have you noticed anything, I don't know, strange going on with some of the other students wherever you went?"

"Gonna have to specify Jaune."

"I mean like watching and talking about you in a hushed way." Pyrrha hummed and shook her head.

"Can't say that I've noticed really." Jaune nodded slowly.

"Well, I've noticed and I think it's because of what happened with Cardin last week. A copy of my video that I took of the fight got posted on the School's Facenovel page." This got Pyrrha's attention, because she turned her head to look at Jaune.

"Wait, your video?" Jaune grimaced as he realized that Pyrrha never knew that Jaune had actually taken a video of that fight.

"Oh, well, when I saw what was happening I knew that there was a chance that I would lose, so as insurance I decided to take a video of what was happening to use against Cardin if he did anything to you." Jaune said as he stared straight ahead, not wanting to look at Pyrrha's face.

"Fair enough but how's that video circling if you're the one who took it? Jaune shrugged.

"That's simple now that I think about it, remember the girl and guy that found us after that? Well the girl, Coco Adel, is like a journalist, rumormonger, tabloid reporter, all mixed together and she sent herself a copy of the video from my phone." Pyrrha sighed.

"Well I guess there's nothing we can do about it now." The two of them walked up the steps of the cafeteria building and opened the doors. While not everyone turned to look at them, quite a few people did in fact do that.

"Alright let's get some food and find Nora and Ren." Pyrrha said cheerfully, wholly ignoring the stares that she should have noticed.

Jaune simply followed her and grabbed a tray, as they proceeded down the food line, Jaune felt like someone being watched on a reality television show. As they left the food line, someone called out to Pyrrha.

"Pyrrha! Over here!" Jaune noticed the luminous shine of yellow hair that belonged to Yang Xiao Long; she was calling to Pyrrha to join them. Pyrrha however simply gave a polite nodded but ultimately didn't go to greet the girl.

"Oh! There's Nora." Pyrrha said instead and Jaune saw the bubbly orange hair girl waving at them. As they reached them, Jaune and Pyrrha sat side by side across from them.

"Hello!" Pyrrha said beaming a smile.

"Hiya guys, what's it like being a rock star?" Nora asked, resting her chin on her fists. Jaune just waved his hand dismissively.

"It's nothing, everyone's gonna forget about us within the day." Nora tilted her head a little in thought.

"Really? I heard that you got a bunch of love letters stuffed into your locker today." Pyrrha looked at Jaune in a mixture of surprise and horror.

"Love letters?" Jaune laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head.

"Ah, well there weren't actually love letters; they were just people thanking me for standing up to Cardin. I mean he's bullied a lot of people since freshman year." Nora and Ren nodded in agreement, while Pyrrha's face seemed to soften.

"Not surprised, and now that I think about it, I'm starting to realize why Coco happened upon you guys like that." Jaune tilted his head a little at Ren.

"Think about it, Coco's very protective of her own, and I can think of a certain shy photographer who happens to be friends with her that gets bullied by Cardin." Jaune nodded in understanding, Nora and his face darkened, Pyrrha on the other hand looked puzzled, Ren saw her look.

"Oh, I'm sorry I forgot Pyrrha, you're still new." She shook her head.

"Its fine Ren, please continue." Ren nodded after taking a sip from a bottle of water.

"Well there's a photographer in the school's journalism club, which Coco is the president for, that also runs the school's newspaper, Velvet Scarlatina. She's a kind hearted girl, who's a little shy but people love her anyways. However she became Cardin's favorite target last year, speculation about what he did varies but the worst however was that he and his friends repeatedly assaulted her. It didn't come to anyone's attention about how bad it really was until Coco went to visit Velvet at her house near the end of school because she didn't come to school one day. She found Velvet in the tub with her wrists slit, thankfully she was able to keep her conscious till an ambulance arrived but Velvet spent the entire summer at therapy, she still is here at school but she's kind of a shell of herself at the moment." Pyrrha gasped at hearing all of this, inside she could feel disgust and rage building in her at Cardin. She wished she had done worse to him to make him suffer for what he's done.

"So wait, Cardin got away with it?" Pyrrha asked incredulously, Jaune spoke next, his face a visage of contempt.

"Apparently there was supposed an investigation of the matter by the police but Cardin's dad is a politician so he apparently pulled some strings to have whoever was in charge of the investigation to throw out good evidence on some bogus grounds that it was deliberately placed to steer the investigation in a direction." Pyrrha shook her head; it broke her heart to hear about the injustice done to that girl.

"Heads up, tall, blonde, and busty is on the move." Nora said, at that moment a blonde girl sat down next to Jaune, elbows resting on the table.

"Hi there!" She said a wide smile on her face.

"Hello." Jaune said simply, he wasn't sure what one of the most popular girls in school was doing here.

"You're Jaune Arc right? The guy that beat the shit out of Cardin's group?" Jaune nodded, she laughed a little.

"I thought so! Dude that was some awesome stuff I saw there." Jaune nodded again, this time he could see the smile seem to leave her face for a fraction of a second.

"What? Not much of a talker? Or do I just make you a little too flustered? Don't worry I have that effect on people." She rattled on, and Jaune felt slightly annoyed that she wouldn't just stop talking.

"I'm sorry Yang is there an actual point of you being here?" Jaune said this brought a look of surprise from Yang who clearly wasn't use to not having guys fawning over her.

"Actually yea, but it doesn't have to do with you." She said plainly before standing up once more and moving over to sit next to Pyrrha.

"Hey Pyrrha, how come you didn't come over to sit with us?" She asked, Pyrrha looked at Yang with a small apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry Yang but I felt like hanging out with Jaune." Yang frowned a little.

"You know Ruby will be sad that you don't want to hang out with us."

"I'm sorry; please tell Ruby that if she ever wants to talk I'm always willing." Yang nodded a little.

"Fair enough but Weiss is also going to be upset that you're talking with you, know who."

"You mean me?" Jaune interrupted before Pyrrha could say anything, Yang looked unsure of what to say for a second.

"Yea." Pyrrha set her plastic utensils down and looked at Yang.

"Well I'm sorry she feels that way but generally I think that it's best to judge people only when I meet them and not through hearsay." Yang raised her eyebrows again surprise before giving a fierce smile.

"I'll pass the word; have fun with your boy toy." Pyrrha and Jaune both turned beet red as Yang left, Nora was cracking up as well. Ren was much more composed but Jaune could see the amusement in his eyes. After things settled down, Jaune turned to Pyrrha.

"You know if you wanted you could have gone to sit with them." Jaune said Pyrrha didn't look at him; instead she simply stared at the table.

"It's not that I don't like them, Ruby's a nice girl, so is Yang despite her humor, Blake I can't really say much about cause she rarely talks except whenever Sun stops by or if Yang forces her, Neptune is alright but kind of a womanizer, the person who introduced me to them if anything is the one that I like least, which happens to be Weiss."

"Is it because she's a rich snob?" Nora asked but Pyrrha shook her head.

"In a sense that is and isn't the case, it's hard to describe but I guess it is how she acts. She's living in some weird social hierarchy kind of world. I think she expects me to be a firm believer in that world or someone who tolerates it since I've apparently made my own name in Mixed Martial Arts tournaments and have already gotten offers for scholarships from universities." Jaune was surprised to hear the last part.

"Whoa, Universities are already scouting you out?" Pyrrha shrugged.

"Kind of, they're probably gonna start watching my progress over the next two years depending on how well I play, well if I play." Ren looked at her.

"If? Do you not want to do anymore sports?" Pyrrha looked down again.

"I don't know, maybe? I haven't really decided in the end." Her musings were interrupted when Nora gave a loud belch.

"Well Pyrrha, in the end it doesn't matter, as your friend I'll attend your games if you decide to try out for a team?" Pyrrha looked at the orange hair girl in surprise.

"Friends?" Pyrrha asked and Nora snorted a little.

"Of course we're friends Pyrrha! Even then any friend of Jaune is a friend to me as well, right Ren?" She asked, addressing the last part to the stoic young man.

He didn't say anything at first, Jaune frowned as he saw confusion etched on his friend's face, and he was reading something on his phone. Nora elbowed him and he looked up, uncharacteristically startled.

"Oh yea, if Jaune trusts you, we trust you." Ren said simply before looking back at his phone, Jaune exchanged looks with Nora but left the matter for now. For the rest of lunch they sat there talking until the bell rang.

Jaune waited until Pyrrha and Nora were ahead of him before turning to Ren who had mostly been reading something on his phone.

"Ren?" The sound of his name drew the quiet boy's attention.

"I know what you're gonna ask Jaune, and yes it's important."

"What is it?" Ren gave a pointed look at Jaune.

"Did you not watch the video I linked to you last week?" Jaune scratched the back of his head.

"Uh, some of it, something about Vacuo having some epidemic going on and that they're restricting travel." Ren nodded a little before continuing.

"And do you know what happened recently?"

"Complete Martial Law, including their Navy forming a blockade." Ren nodded again.

"Yes, but it isn't the keep the outside out so much as to keep the people inside from leaving, it's a quarantine Jaune. There was a report that just came in an hour ago of Vale warships witnessing the Vacuo Navy firing on commercial ships that were trying to run the quarantine line." Jaune looked at Ren; a Navy firing on civilians hasn't been seen since the last war.

"Do you really think its quarantine Ren? It could easily be some Coup and the Government trying to rein it in without global spectators." Ren shook his head as they left the building.

"Trust me, a Valean frigate tried picking up some survivors in the water but the Vacuo warships nearly hit the Vale warship as they took out the survivors, their reasoning was that the possibility of infection was too high." Jaune frowned, Ren was right something was amiss, Ren patted Jaune's shoulder.

"I'll send you the article links after school, I'll see ya later." Jaune nodded and walked towards his next class.

* * *

 **A Few Hours Later…**

Jaune was sitting on his bike, scrolling through his phone for what song he wanted to listen to. The parking lot was mostly empty now as students and faculty went home for the day.

"Hey." Jaune jumped a little when someone spoke up next to him, looking up he was surprised to see Yang standing in front of him. Holding a yellow and black helmet in her arm, she looked a little bashful.

"Uh, Hi?" Yang rolled her eyes at his simple response.

"Look, I just wanted to apologize if it seemed like I came off a little rude earlier." Jaune quirked an eyebrow surprise.

"I mean that whole Weiss thing, I know you two have a shaky past and she's not exactly the friendliest person out there but what she thinks doesn't speak for the rest of us." Jaune held up a hand to stop her.

"Yang its fine, I didn't exactly give her much of a choice but how I acted, so I'm not surprised that she hates me."

"But she doesn't hate you, she just, doesn't like being around you." Yang cringed internally, that wasn't exactly helping but Jaune waved a hand in dismissively.

"I would hate someone who did that to me as well, constantly coming back after saying no, multiple times but it doesn't matter now, all I can do is just give her space." Yang smiled at that.

"I had a feeling you were a nice guy despite everything, my old man was right." Jaune looked at her confused.

"Old man?" Yang nodded.

"Yup, I'd saw you coming into his place all the time in the summer and he'd give you boxing lessons, didn't realize how well you took to them until now with that fight." Jaune looked puzzled and Yang rolled her eyes again.

"Come on! You took lessons with my dad." Jaune blinked in surprise.

"Taiyang is your dad?"

"Duh! Did you not notice his last name, Taiyang Xiao Long? Or the gyms name Sun Dragon Fitness?" Jaune scratched the back of his neck as he felt his cheeks flush at not realizing that.

"Uh, no." Yang stared at him for a few seconds before breaking out in laughter, after a few moments Jaune did as well.

"But seriously I always saw you working hard during my dad's lessons, and running to and from the gym every time. He'd always talk about you, how you worked and listened diligently; it was interesting to see my dad so enthusiastic about teaching someone." Yang said, though instead of a smile her face settled to that of introspection but it didn't last long.

"Anyways, what's up between you and Pyrrha?" Jaune frowned.

"What do you mean?" Yang scoffed as she leaned against her bike.

"Come on, a guy comes to the rescue of a girl and she suddenly starts spending more time with him than with others." Jaune shook his head.

"I get what you're trying to say Yang but Pyrrha and I are only friends."

"That may be what you think but is it what she thinks?"

"That's a little cliché? Guy saves girl, girl likes guy for it?"

"The thing people seem to forget about clichés and stereotypes Jaune is that they only become those things because they happen so often in life." Jaune sighed.

"Maybe but I don't think she likes me in that sense." Yang smiled at that before stepping close to Jaune her face a foot away from his. It was only then that he realized that Yang's jacket was opened at the top, revealing far more skin than he was comfortable of a certain area.

"Well maybe I'm okay with that." Jaune blinked, keeping eye contact with her, a part of him wanted to look down but he knew that he'd get socked in the face. However Yang leaned away, a wolfish smile on her face, she knew what she was doing and Jaune cursed his luck in his mind.

"Let me see your phone." She said and extended one hand out, palm up, Jaune just looked puzzled at her.

"Why?"

"So I can give you my number, ya goof."

"Oh." Jaune opened his contacts and handed it to her, Yang tapped away quickly then gave it back.

"Well big boy, I'll see ya later and who knows maybe we can go a few rounds, some of them even in a boxing ring." She said with a sly smile and wink, Jaune felt his face flush a little. Yang simply chuckled and got on her bike, the engine roaring to life. As Jaune watched her drive away he couldn't help but speak what was on his mind.

"What?"

* * *

 **Later that Night…**

Jaune finished watching the latest update of the news site Ren had sent him and leaned back in his chair. The flow of reports online from smaller independent news groups was far more informative than the main stream media. However that more inclusive reporting was much more frightening.

A massive epidemic was running rampant in Vacuo; no one that got infected lived more than four or five days. What was even creeper was the fact that transmission was being narrowed down to bodily fluid contact, specifically blood and saliva.

People were attacking each other like animals. A new video popped up on the newsfeed of the site, Jaune clicked it. After a few moments buffering he realized that it wasn't a video but a stream.

A tall, built man with a raggedy beard came on. He wore a Kevlar vest with the word "Press" stuck on the front. He was breathing heavily and sweat was visible on his face, Jaune could see the fear in his face. The camera panned left towards the street.

Jaune could see fires in the distance, most of buildings were dark, and there were a few police helicopters in the air. The only lights nearby were coming from street lamps and cars on fire.

The camera settled on a group of riot police nearly eighty strong lined up facing away from them. Dozens of other officers were behind them dressed in tactical gear and armed. The man from earlier started to talk.

"This is Edward Iillyan of Mice News, reporting live from the rooftop of the Vacuoan Downtown 8th Police Precinct. Things have deteriorated even more here in Vacuo to the point that I doubt that they'll be able to handle without outside intervention. The National Guard and other military assets have been deployed and authorized to use any means to subdue the rioters, even lethal force. As you can see down there, the police are gathering to meet an oncoming group of rioters that were spotted heading this way. I've talked to a few people who've been fleeing the city from that direction that witnessed the rioters killing a dozen police officers that were directing foot traffic. In addition they also were attacking innocent bystanders that simply wanted to get out of the danger. One man said that they were like monsters, attacking indiscriminately." At that moment someone could be heard yelling, the camera zoomed in on a Police Officer pointing down the street. The cameraman looked up, and in the distance they could see a group of figures turning the corner. It was an assortment of soldiers, policemen and civilians.

"Looks like more stragglers from the city are trying to make their way to the police line. Wait a minute. Jim! Zoom in!" Edward yelled at his camera man, the man focused in, but not on the people but what was behind them. Jaune felt his stomach curl as what looked to be dozens of figures came running at the group.

The soldiers motioned for the others to keep moving and turned towards the coming mass. They raised their weapons, Jaune felt his heart hammering against his ribs at what he was about to see.

However at that moment the feed was cut. Jaune blinked as he registered what just happened, he refreshed the page, hoping it was just on his end but to no avail. At that moment he got a text and opened his phone, it was from Ren.

-Were you watching that Broadcast? - Ren asked.

-Yea, what the hell is going on over there? -

-I don't know man but some officials are saying that thousands of refugees already made it to other places like Vale or Mistral. So maybe it's already here. - That's when a terrible thought struck him.

-Yo, dude, you know where you dad was? - Jaune waited a bit for a reply.

-He's in Mistral so he's probably still safe. -

-I honestly don't know what's going to happen. - Jaune typed, a few moments later Ren replied.

-Me neither dude, all I know is that me and Nora have your back. -

-Hopefully it doesn't come to that. - Jaune however knew that wasn't going to be the case, and he was sure that Ren knew that as well. Pushing back from his desk, Jaune got up from his chair and headed towards a small ventilation grate in his wall. The screws weren't placed in properly, Jaune wanted easy access to it in times of need.

He pulled out a metal box with a padlock on it, reaching back into the vent, Jaune pulled out a key. On Sunday he and his father had gone out shopping for his first weapon. Unlocking it, he opened to reveal a brand new fourth generation Glock 19.

His father had funded the additional purchase, of three thirty round boxes of nine millimeter ammunition.

Jaune had also bought a mounted tactical light and a shoulder holster. His father thought it was a bit excessive but Jaune thought it was cool so he had bought it with his own money.

Though now he looked at the black steel of the handgun with trepidation. Not fearing the tool but fearing what he might have to do with it. Though a part of his mind rationalized that the possibility of whatever that was affecting Vacuo wouldn't happen in Vale.

That was enough to give him comfort.

* * *

 **Elsewhere…**

Qrow Branwen stumbled out of the bar, another night gone to drinking. Though despite how he may appear to others as a stumbling drunk fool. He was in fact quite aware of his surroundings. He was never sure why his tolerance for alcohol was so different but he made good use of it whenever he got into bar fights.

To be able to trick his opponents to not taking him seriously but just some loud mouth drunkard who needed to be taught a lesson. Suffice to say, he rarely left those fights with a mark unless the other guy was a good brawler. However brawling and fighting were two different things.

As he made his way to his black and red 67' Shelby gt500 Mustang, it was his most prized possessions on Remnant. As he opened the door and sat in, he took a deep breath. He still couldn't help but feel uneasy about what happened but he knew that he had to shake it off.

That's when he remembered David got his hand bite and was off the job till it healed, maybe he'll visit him. Qrow turned the engine on and backed out of the bar's parking lot and headed south to the suburbs.

* * *

 **Ten Minutes Later…**

Qrow pulled up to the curb of a corner one story house, the lights were off but David's car was in the driveway. A simple grey sedan, Qrow shook his head; the man never had good taste in cars. Getting out of the car, the cool air of night bite Qrow, and he shivered.

"Fucking shit, it's getting cold." He muttered as he rubbed his arms and walked up the pathway to the front door. The light turned on as he knocked and waited a few moments but he didn't hear anything inside.

There was a sound of a car behind him and Qrow turned to see another sedan pull into the driveway. Qrow turned and shielded his eyes as the headlights shone into his eyes.

The sedan turned off and a woman stepped out, Sarah Reed, a tall brunette woman who was an elementary school teacher.

"Qrow? I thought that was you, never seen anyone else with that car before." Sarah asked as she walked up the path.

"Hi Sarah, you caught me, I just felt like dropping in to see how David was doing." Sarah put a hand on Qrow's arm reassuringly.

"I know, David told me what happened, I'm sorry for you having to go through that, those Internal Affairs people always seem harsh on good officers like you." Qrow chuckled.

"Ah well, it comes with the territory, most of the time we understand that they have to be tough to do their jobs, though it doesn't mean we like being looked at as if we are the real bad guys." Sarah nodded in understanding, the spouses and partners of Law Enforcement were often use to hearing about these sort of things.

"Anyways, I'll just head off then, probably grab something to eat." Qrow said Sarah looked surprised.

"What? You're not gonna stay?" Qrow shook his head.

"Nah it's fine, I can come back another time, besides I think David's getting some shut eye cause when I knocked I didn't hear anything inside." Sarah frowned at that.

"I'm not surprised; David was really feeling out of it, he had a fever last night I figure he's probably coming down with a cold or something."

"Well, I guess I'll stop by later, you take care now Sarah." Qrow called out as he walked away from them towards his car.

Sarah stepped in the dark hallway of her home for the last twenty years and for the first time in those twenty years, she shivered. Not due to the cold air but the underlying tone that seemed to suffocate everything.

"Lucy? Where are you girl?" Sarah called out but the dog was nowhere to be seen. She felt her hair go on edge and she stepped further into the house. She heard the buzz of the bathroom ventilation and a sink running.

"David?" She called out and rounded the corner to see the bathroom door slightly ajar. Light was shining from the door, looking down she could see something seeping out from under the door was a dark crimson fluid, blood.

"David!?" Sarah called out and threw open the door, the first thing she noticed was Lucy lying on the floor. The poor dog had its ribcage broken open, blood pooling around it along with various chewed on entrails. Sarah felt bile rise up and clamped a hang over her mouth and turned away but run into something.

Looking up she could see the pale face of the man she loved. His eyes were glassy and the area around his mouth was red by dried blood.

"David?" Sarah whispered, the icy grip of fear gripping her heart. The animal part of her mind screaming for her to move her legs but she couldn't.

What use to be David fixated its glassy eyes on her and opened its mouth, Sarah could see sinews of meat from Lucy logged in its mouth.

The creature lunged at Sarah, the force and weight of it causing her to fall backwards as she slipped on blood. Sarah cried out in pain as her head struck the tiled floor of the bathroom.

In the corner of her eye she could see that she was next the savaged corpse of Lucy. That creature that was once her beloved husband loomed over her with its mouth open. Saliva mixed with blood leaked out of its mouth onto her face, the fetid breath of raw meat wafting in her face.

Her heart was hammering and tears spilled from her eyes as she tried to fight it off, begging and pleading for it to not hurt her. Her arms gave way and it closed on her, she screamed in pain as its teeth sunk in her shoulder.

"David please!" She screamed in pain and horror, her mind racing to understand what was happening. The creature reared back and for a fleeting second Sarah thought she was saved before it opened its mouth again and lunged down. This time it aimed for her stomach.

Sarah could feel the dull pointed pressure of teeth biting her flesh. She screamed as the teeth broke skin, sinking into her flesh. She continued to scream as loud and shrill as she could before passing out from the shock, her body being devoured by her former spouse.

* * *

 **The Next Morning…**

In the early hours of morning the neighbors of David and Sarah Reed decided to call the police to report a domestic abuse incident. They had seen an unknown man talking with Sarah outside her house at late night and it wasn't even ten minutes after that they had heard the screaming.

When a squad car appears a little while later, Officer James Higgens and Thomas O'Brian would approach the house. Higgens being the senior officer touched the radio on his right shoulder.

"This is Higgens on 4th and Baker respond to a possible 2-4-3." There was a brief crackle and the dispatcher on the other ended responded to him.

"Roger that Higgens, do you need assistance."

"Negative Dispatch, we're gonna check it out first."

"Copy that Higgens." He turned to his partner.

"Let's go." The two of them knocked on the front door but there was no sound that they could hear at first until they heard something break. Deciding to not waste any more time, they break down the door.

They weren't ready for what greeted them; the scent of blood was thick in the hair. Higgens felt a cold sweat breaking out on his neck as he pulled out his firearm.

"Vale Police! Anyone here!?" He shouted but there was nothing.

"Shit dude, what the hell happened?" O'Brian whispered, people were gathering out on the street, Higgens reached for his radio again.

"Dispatch this is Higgens, requesting backup at 4th and Baker, possible 1-8-7."

"Roger that Higgens, dispatching additional Officers and EMTs now, E.T.A ten minutes." Higgens didn't reply when he heard the sound of running.

"Vale Police! Identify yourself!" He yelled, his partner backing up several paces to cover him. The steps came louder and his partner yelled in surprise. A man was on top of him, his grey face covered in dry blood that ran down his shirt.

"Get this fucker off me!" His partner yelled, Higgens turned and moved forward but as he did, he heard another set of footsteps behind him. He turned in time to see a woman with her entrails hanging out of her ruined midsection running at him. The mauled intestines flapping back and forth as she ran at him.

He raised his handgun but it was too late. She barreled into him, not enough to knock him down but send him stumbling back into the wall. Pictures fell and broke as his back connected with the wall; he looked up to see her coming at him still.

She grabbed him, Higgens watched as her face got close to his. Pain flared as her teeth sunk into his left cheek and pulled back, stripping his cheek from his face.

As he fell to the floor with the woman still on him, he could see that his partner was already dead. Gurgling blood, his throat a mass of ruined flesh, the man had ripped his throat out.

The man who did it to him was already out the door chasing down others. The screams of terror indicating that people had stayed against their better judgment; Higgens felt the weight of the woman on him. He looked up to see her bloodied teeth, bits of his cheek still in her teeth.

The last thing he saw was her bloodied open mouth descending on his vision.

When additional officers finally arrived on scene what they saw was multiple bodies on the ground, the man and woman hunched over chewing away at bodies.

"Freeze!" One officer shouted as they got out of their squad cars, pulling their handguns out aiming straight the two people. They turned to look at them and started running, the Officers could see something was very wrong, especially with the disemboweled woman running at them.

They wasted no time in firing their weapons. The barrage of nine millimeter rounds tore into them, each impact resulting in a puff of blood. The officers unloaded their handguns into the couple, after running only six meters the two had fallen under the fire, the officers kept their handguns trained on them.

"Holy shit, did we really just do that?" One woman asked as she stepped forward, her sidearm still aimed at the two people.

"Shut up Daniels, you saw what they were doing! Fucking eating people? That's fucking nuts." A second Officer snapped, his voice high pitched and frantic.

"Alright that's enough." Sergeant Gerris of the arriving officers snapped, he was an older man with salt and pepper hair.

"Daniels, Jenkins, check the house for Higgens and O'Brian. Oliver, Gwen, Hailey, check for survivors." As the Officers dispersed, Gerris walked up towards the nearest house, he could see bloody impacts of fists against the door.

He walked up to it, his right on his the butt of his handgun; he pulled out his baton with his left hand. Rapping the metal head of the baton against the door, he called out.

"This is Officer Gerris of the Vale Police Department, is there anyone in there?!" He waited a few moments as he heard someone thumping down a flight of stairs.

Gerris stepped to the side, not putting away his baton or taking his hand off his gun. The door swung open and a disheveled man came out, blood caked the front of his white shirt. Gerris snapped his handgun out of the holster, as the man carried a hatchet in his right hand.

"Sir! Put down the hatchet!" He barked and the man looked at him. Gerris could see the fear clouding the man's eyes for a few moments, thankfully he blinked and recognition of appeared.

"Officer?" He stepped forward; Gerris took a step back, his handgun still aimed at the man.

"Sir. Put the hatchet down." Gerris gritted out, and the man looked down at the weapon, dropping it. That was when Gerris noticed that the man's arm was torn up.

"What happened to your arm?" Gerris said as he stepped closer, putting away his baton and sidearm. He gripped the man's other arm and started guiding him to the street.

"It was David, the other officers arrived a little before you did and went inside, Ms. Johnson was the one to call them, when I went out she told me about what had happened and we stood there but then David came charging out and tackled me, he sunk his teeth in my arm real good but I knocked him off and ran, I guess he tried to follow me but failed so he went after the others." The man said quickly, Gerris could see that he was pale, sweaty and shaking a little, no doubt from shock.

"Sir, EMTs are here, we've got two more wounded but it looks like no one on the street made it through." Gerris nodded, and looked down at the man.

"Sir, the EMTs are here to take you to the nearest hospital to get your wounds treated." The man nodded shakily as Gerris helped him up and leading him towards the waiting ambulances.

Gerris watched as the man, along with another man and woman was helped in the ambulances. The doors closed and they began driving away, sirens blaring. Gerris ran a hand over his face, the day had barely started and he already felt tired.

"Man, things can't get any worse."

* * *

 **Oh dear, he has no idea.**

 **Surprise fact, that classroom incident that I spoke of in this story of the people getting they stuff stolen was something from my actual life. Though it was really two girls and the Vice Principle chose not to open the lockers on his own will power.**

 **Anyways thanks for reaching the end of this trial story of sorts, I felt like trying it out for a while. So during my time off I started writing it down and here we are.**

 **Also this is actually the first few chapters condensed so if enough people want me to continue it I'll make more but most likely at a smaller word count on average.**

 **So let me know what you think, whether it's things to improve or things you like or don't like. I'll try to address as much as I can and take your advice as best I can.**

 **Also if you haven't, feel free to check out my first story called The Lost Sons, a RWBY and Warhammer 40k Crossover.**

 **Till next time!**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Alexander Arc stood at the window of his store looking out at the street. In the last twenty minutes he had counted several ambulances and police cars speeding by in either direction. He looked down at his phone it was nearly twelve in the afternoon, Arabella had yet to call him again.

Earlier that morning when he was getting breakfast ready, she had called him saying that she wouldn't make it home due to an influx of patients. This wasn't that much of a concern since he takes the girls to school on his way to work.

However as time went on in his store, a large amount of people had come through buying materials ranging from food to camping equipment in bulk.

Sure it was great business but something about it felt wrong to him. The main fact was that most of them looked to be regular white collar people.

The sort who wouldn't rough it in the wilds on their spare time, though he always taught his kids that looks can be deceiving.

In this case, Alexander was fairly certain that he was correct in his assumption that most if not all didn't know what they were actually doing.

A familiar Mustang pulled into the parking lot in front of his store, Qrow stepped out of his Mustang and waved at him. He wore a loose red and grey three quarter shirt over dark jeans, black shoes, along with a pair of dark aviator sunglasses.

Alexander always thought Qrow looked silly in aviator glasses. Then again Arabella always chided about how he mostly wore as she calls it, stiff, attire.

He looked down; today he was wearing a grey button up shirt that was tucked in black slacks with a brown belt looped through it that rested neatly on his black dress shoes.

"I don't know what she's talking about, I look fine." Alexander murmured, as Qrow opened the door to the store, Alexander looked up at Qrow.

"What brings you my way today Qrow?" Alexander asked Qrow shrugged.

"Ah, traffics a fucking killer at the moment, tried heading south on the Dustberry to get the suburbs in the southeast but it was blocked up." Qrow jerked a thumb towards the street outside.

"Then there's whatever is going on around Vale, emergency services have been going nuts for the past hour." Alexander nodded as he headed to the main counter before entering a back door to bring out two chairs.

"I was wondering about that as well, Arabella had called me earlier in the morning saying she has to stay at the hospital for overtime because a few of the morning shift nurses hadn't shown up and there was several new patients."

"Yea that's pretty weird." Qrow said as he pulled out his phone, opening it to his contacts and scrolling down to David's home phone. Clicking it, he brought it up to his ear, after a few moments of ringing it went to voicemail. Qrow hung up and decided to call his cell, though this went straight to voicemail.

"Something a matter?" Alexander asked as Qrow nodded taking one chair in hand.

"Ah, well I'm trying to check up on that guy I told you about, David Reed, he got his hand messed up when we entered that apartment." Alexander looked puzzled and Qrow elaborated.

"I went to see him last night but he wasn't feeling well so I was gonna visit him this morning but as I said traffic is being a bitch, kind of reminds of Ice Queen." Qrow murmured the last part, and Alexander raised an eyebrow at that.

"Ice Queen?" Qrow looked up slightly startled at the question then waved a hand dismissively.

"Ah, you wouldn't know her, some chick I met at the last Policeman's Ball."

"Is that it?" Alexander asked as he crossed his arms, a small smile on his face, Qrow simply rolled his eyes.

"Of course that's it, what makes you think there's more?"

"I don't know, probably because you referred to this woman as Ice Queen." Qrow rolled his eyes, as he typed in Sarah's cell. He brought it up to his ear and it immediately went to voicemail as well, looking at the time he reckoned that lunch should be happening for her kids at the moment. Was her cell dead, or maybe she just didn't hear it.

"Qrow, what are you doing?" Alexander asked as he watched the man look at his phone obviously thinking about something.

"I'm sorry what?" He said after a moment.

"I asked, what are you doing, you've been staring at it like you're trying to figure out something." Qrow tucked it away.

"Just tried calling his wife but she didn't answer, probably teaching class to her snot nosed brats." Alexander shrugged. Someone started honking outside before there was a loud crash.

"What the fuck?!" Qrow yelled as both he and Alexander stood up, the two men raced outside to see two cars smashed together on the side walk. The lead grey sedan was pinned between a yellow truck and a brick wall.

"Alexander! Call emergency services!" Qrow yelled as he rushed forward, the sedan's horn was going off; the driver must be slumped against it. Alexander pulled out his cell and immediately started to punch in the three digits as Qrow rounded to the driver side.

The truck driver stumbled out of his truck, blood trickling down the side of his head. Qrow stopped him from falling and could see a large cut, most likely from hitting his head.

"You alright man?" The guy nodded weakly before pointing at the sedan.

"I'm okay, though I think something happened to that guy cause he jerked in his car in front of me, which is how we ended up here." The man slurred as Qrow put the man's left arm around his shoulder helping him. Qrow could feel him struggling to walk as they reached the sidewalk, helping him sit down. People from nearby stores came rushing out; Qrow turned to two women and pointed at driver.

"Keep an eye on him; I think he might have a concussion." Qrow said as he turned to face the smashed sedan, the horn was still blaring. Qrow stepped forward and gripped the door handle; taking a deep breath he opened the door.

Looking inside, he saw something that he would never forget. In the driver seat was a man who was obviously dead but that wasn't the part that made Qrow's heart seize in terror. In the passenger seat was a woman.

Qrow couldn't see her face as it was buried in the side of the man, he wasn't sure what exactly she was doing but he felt that finding out wasn't the best idea.

"Ma'am?" A new voice called out and Qrow snapped his head to see a tall bald man opening the passenger door.

"Wait!" Qrow shouted as he ran around to try and stop the man. He was too late.

The woman turned away from the dead driver and grabbed the man by the shoulders. Alexander watched her pull him close bite the man's neck, he started to scream in pain, Qrow grabbed him from behind to pull him away.

Qrow and the man fell back, the woman struggling to break free but were restrained by the seatbelt. The man was whimpering as Qrow rolled to the side. Qrow looked at the man's neck; it was a mess of torn flesh with blood pumping out no doubt in time with the man's heartbeat.

He needed to stop the bleeding fast; removing his shirt he placed it against the man's neck, pressing it firmly. He could feel the blood soaking his shirt, looking down he could see the man was incredibly pale, opening and closing his mouth as he tried to say something.

"It's alright man. You're going to be fine, emergency services will be here soon." Someone kneeled next to him. Qrow turned his head to see Alexander a grim look on his face; he looked down to see a medical kit in Alexander's hands.

"How long till emergency services get here?" Qrow whispered Alexander shook his head.

"The line was busy." Qrow blinked.

"What?"

"The fucking line was busy, now shut up and move over." Alexander snapped as he removed bandages and sterilized gauze from the kit. Qrow moved aside removing the shirt so Alexander could press a thick wad of gauze against the wound.

"How can the line be busy, there's at least six dozen dispatchers at any time with an additional two dozen if things do get hectic." Qrow mused aloud as he kneeled next to Alexander who simply didn't say anything.

"I'll be back." Qrow said abruptly and stood up, looking around he could see other people on their phones. Some had the same frustrated look that Alexander had.

"Excuse me! Has anyone notified Emergency Services!?" Qrow called out, one woman responded.

"I'm trying but I keep getting some automated message saying that the lines are busy." A chorus of other people called out saying the same thing. Qrow was about to run a hand through his hair when he realized that it was covered in blood.

"Qrow! I need your help here!" Alexander yelled and Qrow turned around, kneeling next to him.

"What do you need?" Alexander leaned back and placed his hands on top of his head. Qrow looked down to see that man was pale; his eyes were staring unblinkingly at the sky.

"He's a goner Qrow."

"What do you mean a goner?" Qrow hissed Alexander simply shook his head.

"It means I don't have the medical ability to keep a man with a torn open neck caused by a human mouth from bleeding out." Alexander stood up, the woman in the passenger seat was still struggling to get out; he turned around to face the gathering people and pointed at her.

"No one goes near this woman, no matter what! She killed this man!" He yelled before picking up the medical kit and headed back into his store. Qrow placed his shirt over the dead man's face and walked over to his car popping the truck, he was sure he had a spare shirt somewhere. A woman screamed, and Qrow spun to see the dead man was now sitting up.

"What the fuck…"

 **Elsewhere…**

* * *

Jaune stifled another yawn, as he sat down at the usual table. Around them the buzz of the cafeteria seemed to be noticeably more excited. Jaune tilted his head in thought, excited wasn't the right word. No, agitated seemed to be a better word that fit the atmosphere.

"Is something wrong Jaune?" Pyrrha asked looking at him quizzically, Jaune simply shrugged.

"I don't know everyone seems a little off to be honest." Jaune said as he took another look around, there were several groups of teens that seemed to be crowding in on each other. Jaune turned back to his food and picked up a forkful of cold pasta, shoveling it into his mouth.

"Bleh, please tell me I'm not the only one that thinks cold pasta just doesn't seem right." Jaune said as he washed the taste down with grape soda.

"I know! If anything they should serve more pancakes. No even better the kitchen should be open for students to make their own meals as well." Jaune chuckled.

"Chef would have a heart attack if a bunch of teens with no skill in cooking flooded her kitchen." Ren looked at Jaune.

"That's right I heard that the new Chef this year is really strict." Jaune shook his hand a little uncertainly.

"In a sense that's right but it's really just that she takes teaching a more serious than the last Chef." The last Chef seemed to be so disinterested in teaching that he simply let students bring almost any ingredient or food in to cook themselves.

Ultimately he ended up getting fired around the end of the year when a School District Observer had witnessed a few students putting together a cake that was shaped as a pair of breasts.

"So I never asked, but why did you pick that class?" Pyrrha asked as she wiped her mouth with a paper napkin.

"Meh, not much to it really, I watched my old man and mom cook as a kid, sometimes they'd even let me help out and before I knew it I just enjoyed making food." Pyrrha smiled.

"That's very admirable of you Jaune to be so dedicated to a field like that." Nora spoke up.

"It's a shame he's not becoming a chef, he makes great food…well except for pancakes, Ren's got him beat in that." She said nodding her head sagely; Pyrrha looked puzzled between Jaune and Ren who waved his hand dismissively.

"That's not actually true, Nora's just really biased when it comes to that." Jaune crossed his arms and huffed.

"Well it doesn't stop her from eating my pancakes whenever I do make them." Nora shrugged her shoulders.

"What? And let food go to waste? For shame Jaune, I thought you would have much more appreciation for food then that." Jaune opened and closed his mouth trying to say something but failed. That's when he noticed Pyrrha shaking as she looked away.

"Pyrrha?" He asked as Ren and Nora turned to look at her.

"I-I-I'm s-sorry." Pyrrha finally said as she turned back around, clearing trying to suppress a smile on her face. She looked Jaune in the eye and he could see that she wasn't trying to be mean.

Jaune smiled as her attempt failed miserably, laughter escaping her mouth, Nora quickly joined in, followed by him and even Ren. The four teens completely broke down in laughter that a few students at the other tables turned to look at them.

"What are ya'll laughing about?" A familiar voice asked and Jaune turned, laughter fading away as he looked up to see Yang Xiao Long standing in front of him holding a tray of food.

"Ah just some silly stuff, so what's up?" Jaune said he wasn't really sure why Yang was here, especially with a food tray.

"I was just wondering if I can sit with you guys." Yang said Jaune looked at the others who simply nodded.

"Yea sure, go ahead Yang." She smiled, and sat next to Jaune, who turned to face forward again. In the corner of his eye, he could see Pyrrha staring intensely, either at him or Yang. Pyrrha coughed slightly and Jaune turned to look at her.

"Anyways, what does Nora mean that you're not becoming a chef?" Jaune tilted his head a little.

"Didn't I tell you this already?" Pyrrha looked a little puzzled then shook her head.

"I didn't? Could have sworn I did but anyways, when I was younger I wanted to become a chef due to how much I liked cooking. However I changed my mind after some time to follow my father's footsteps and join the army, hence why I started training so intensely." Pyrrha blinked and looked surprised.

"So that's why you took boxing lessons with my old man." Yang said from Jaune's left, he turned and nodded.

"Boxing lessons with her dad?" Pyrrha asked, for some reason Jaune felt that there was more to that question than he knew.

"Yup I did boxing lessons over the summer, though I didn't know you two were related till you told me."

"Yea, I'm still surprised you never put two and two together. How many people do you know with the last name Xiao Long?" Jaune tilted his head back in thought, Yang smirked.

" _Xiao Long_ is this list if you can't pick a number?" Nora shot a disgusted look at Yang.

"Was that a pun?" Yang turned her smirk to the orange hair girl.

"I have _Nora_ idea what you talking about." Nora placed a hand over her mouth.

"I think I'm going to be sick." Jaune placed his hand over his face, Yang was well known for her weird puns and jokes.

"Yaaaaang! Don't torture them!" A new younger voice called out from behind and the five teens turned to see Ruby standing with her fists on hers hips, a pout visible on her face. With her were also Sun, Blake, Scarlet David, and Sage Ayana.

"Sup Ruby." Jaune called out and Ruby smiled before gesturing to the others.

"Hey Jaune, you don't mind if we sit with you as well?" Jaune quickly looked towards Ren, Nora and Pyrrha who simply nodded at him.

"Uh, yea sure go ahead though we might need another table." He said as he made to get up but Sun and Sage were already moving a table from their right to join with them.

"I still don't know what you're talking about Ruby, the _Arc_ on those were _Pyrfect_." Jaune turned to look at Ruby; she looked like she was going to cry at any moment.

"You guys are so lucky; you don't have to go home with that." Nora hopped over the table and drew the underclassman into a hug cooing as she stroked her hair.

"Don't worry little one, we'll get you the help you need." Everyone at the table laughed save for Yang who still thought her puns were fine and Blake who just didn't seem to care.

"So out of curiosity, why are all you guys over here?" Nora asked as both she and Ruby took a seat at the tables, Sun leaned forward.

"Well, we saw Yang head on over to your table and it looked like you were having fun, minus the whole terrible jokes, so we reckoned why not join you." Jaune saw in the corner of his eye Ruby frowning sadly.

"Though some of us didn't want to come." Jaune frowned as he tilted his head in thought when he realized that Weiss and Neptune weren't here. He looked over his shoulder to see Weiss still seated at their old table with Neptune next to her.

"Neps trying to get the Ice Princess to come over but, ya know." Sun trailed off as he remembered who he was talking too.

"Smooth move." Blake deadpanned, Jaune couldn't help but chuckle.

"I get it; I don't blame her for hating me." The atmosphere at the tables stiffened a little before Jaune clapped his hands.

"Anyways enough about that, I've got a question." The group once more looked towards him.

"Since you're more in touch with the information flow of the student body, can any of you tell me what's going on?" Jaune said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder towards the various bodies of students that were circled up chatting animatedly. Everyone turned to Yang was the top of the student body when it came to rumors second only to Coco Adel.

"Ugh fine, apparently there's been a ton of accidents and injuries that have been happening this morning." Pyrrha frowned as she leaned into the table to get a better look of Yang.

"What do you mean? Like a traffic accident?" Yang shook her head.

"That's the thing; none of them are really connected to each other, though the one commonality of the accidents or incidents as some people suggest. Is that someone always goes nuts and starts attacking other people. Doing things like biting or clawing at them, and they're so out of it that it takes two sometimes even three people to try and hold them down. So now the police and paramedics are swamped with calls." Jaune caught Ren glancing at him in the corner of his eye, this was sounding awfully like what happened in Vacuo. The atmosphere at the table once more began thickening as the teens absorbed that information.

"Ah come off it, these folks are just rowdy is all." Scarlet said in his ever present accented voice, now that Jaune thought about it he didn't know where he came from originally. The tension was broken as the group of teens started talking and laughing amongst themselves. Soon enough the bell rang and everyone started to gather up their trays.

Jaune smiled as he watched Yang dangle a box of chocolate chip cookies over Ruby's head that she had tried hiding from her older half-sister. Pyrrha and Nora were chatting with Sun as they followed Blake; Ren stepped to Jaune's side, matching pace.

"So what do you think?" He asked and Jaune grunted.

"I don't know man, part of me knows where you're going with this and that part wants to say that it's ridiculous and that everything will be fine. However I saw and read what you did as well, things that frankly scare the shit out of me. So you know what, when the time comes Ren, when we see that things are turning into Vacuo find me and make me understand then we can act accordingly. We'll get my family, you, Nora, Pyrrha and your mom then leave Vale." Jaune said as they left the cafeteria, in the cool breeze of the afternoon Jaune could hear sirens in the distance. A part of him knew that Ren was right, that if they didn't act soon they'll be facing a situation like Vacuo. However when would be the right time, acting prematurely wouldn't help but if they respond too late, well who knows.

"Jaune, I know your nervous because of your sisters but please don't hesitate to do what's right." Ren said and Jaune turned to look at him.

"What do you want me to say Ren? That we should just ditch class now, get my sisters, head home pack up then ride out the storm?" Jaune snapped, Ren didn't respond and as they got close to the main building Jaune stopped him.

"Look Ren I didn't mean to be an asshole." Ren raised his hands.

"Its fine I understand, so I won't push it for now but promise me Jaune that when I do come to you about this again you'll listen to me then." Ren said solemnly, Jaune nodded as he held out his hand. Ren gripped it and the two went their separate ways.

 **Meanwhile…**

* * *

Qrow watched from the window as several more bodies of once dead people rose up to chase others. He wasn't sure what was happening but whatever it was he knew he didn't want to stick around to see.

Behind him Alexander had taken his dress shirt and trousers off only to replace them with loose black cargo pants and a plain grey short sleeve shirt. At the moment he was inspecting some of the surplus combat boots to find one to replace his dress shoes.

"So what's the plan?" Qrow called out as he turned around to look at the older man, he had a grim look on his face. Qrow wasn't sure exactly what was going through the man's head; no doubt he's worried about his family at the moment. So was Qrow in a sense, he wanted to find Yang and Ruby but knew that if worse came to bear they'll look after each other.

Qrow watched as Alexander pulled out a surplus black seven pouch chest rig. It had three slots big enough to hold two magazines each in the center with an additional large pouch on each side; another pouch ran up the left harness and the last pouch behind the magazine holders. He slipped it on and headed towards the weapon section of the shop.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Alex what are you doing?" Qrow flinched as Alexander slammed something down on the counter, it was his phone. He didn't say anything as he turned back to look at the rack of rifles and shotguns. Qrow picked up the phone, and turned the display on; it opened to a text message.

-Alex, I'm on my way to pick up Nessa. Get the girls and get home as soon as you can, we need to get out of Vale- Qrow put down the phone, Alexander turned around.

"I'm going to go and get my kids but something tells me I need to prepare myself to do so. Now you can join me Qrow and we can get Ruby and Yang as well then we can head back to my house we'll decide from there." He said as he looked at the wall.

"Fuck man, this is crazy." Qrow said before turning around to look for gear to use. After a few moments to decide, Qrow chose a worn down grey Condor Cross draw vest. The right side had three magazine pouches; above them was a large shell carrying pouch and a shooting pad.

The left side featured a pistol holster capable of carrying most medium-framed pistols, three pistol magazine pouches which were fully adjustable to the height of most normal-sized magazines. With an adjustable attached belt loop at the bottom.

Qrow walked back over to the counter to see that Alexander had already picked a side arm for himself, a Sig Sauer P226R. He was slotting a small flashlight in front of the trigger guard. Qrow looked down at the selection of Glocks and frowned.

"No 1911 huh?" He asked, looking up at Alexander who just snorted.

"Nope."

"I don't see why not, it's a solid handgun."

"I'm not going to argue that just never really got my hands on any of them. Did have a guy who sold me a 1911A1, I liked it." Qrow beamed a smile.

"You still have it?"

"Nope."

"Busting my balls here Alex."

"What can I say; I like the challenge of hitting something that small." Alexander reached down and set a Glock in front of Qrow.

"Well if you really want a handgun that uses the .45 ACP, use this, Gen 4 Glock 41 holds thirteen rounds." Qrow nodded as he Alexander slid a few empty magazines and a brick of rounds over to Qrow. He picked up the box immediately started pulling out the rounds to slot them into the magazines.

Qrow filled the pouches on his vest with the now full magazines he then looked up at the selection of shotguns before pointing at a Mossberg 500.

Alexander turned and picked it off the rack, handing it along with a box of twelve gauge shells. Qrow began loading the shotgun with six shells before storing as many as he could into the vest.

Alexander had walked towards the wall to open up the plastic cabinet; he reached in and pulled out a Stag Model 3 rifle. Turning around to look at Qrow, he pointed a thumb at the cabinet, Qrow shook his head.

"Nah, if you're taking one then we're fine with that, I've got something for indoors and you've got something for range, plus both have handguns which will be okay at a reasonable range." Alexander grunted as he fish out several empty thirty round magazines and a few bricks of ammunition.

"Shame we can't take more with us." Qrow said as he looked through the knife section of the countertop, Alexander sighed before slotting a magazine in the Stag rifle and pulled back the charging handle.

"I know but we can't take too much with us, we need to strip down to what we need to defend ourselves and the kids. Anymore we end up with the risk of slowing down." Qrow nodded in agreement.

"That's true but why can't we just get a bunch of bags, fill them up with supplies and take them with us? We can even just stuff them into the trunks, I doubt we would need to worry about their bags or anything, a textbook isn't going to help." Alexander stopped midway of slotting rounds into a magazine.

"Qrow you're a fucking genius." Qrow shrugged with a grin, Alexander pointed to the far side of the store.

"I've got duffel bags in the far back, just past the portable camping stoves." Alexander said as Qrow headed to the back, after a few moments he came back holding six duffel bags. Alexander set aside the Stag rifle and magazines for it.

"Alright then, two bags will be used for food and water, such as MREs and I think I've got a few boxes of some freeze dried food." Alexander called out as he headed through a doorway only to appear a few moments later carrying a large box which he set on the counter top. Pulling out a switchblade he sliced the packaging tape to reveal rows of blue colored packages, Qrow picked one up.

"Chicken Fajita Bowl? Have you tried any of this stuff?" Qrow asked looking up at Alexander as he scooped bags into an olive drab bag.

"I have out of curiosity and I won't lie, it's not a super tasty meal but it could be a lot worse and it does its job right. Enough chit chat, fill one bag with the food, and I'll fill the other with these." Alexander said holding up a nondescript clear bag of water with a screw on top.

"Water bags?" Alexander nodded.

"Looks weird I know but we're gonna need it, especially with this food. After that we need to fill the other bag with stuff we might need." The two of them got to work filling the bags, outside they could still hear screaming mixed with the ever present sound of sirens.

Soon enough Qrow zipped the last of the bags and set them by the door. Aside from the food and water bag, they had one bag filled with boxes of ammunition and empty magazines to fill later.

The other bags held items such as a single Butane stove, extra fuel, flares, flashlights, a couple of magnesium fire starters, first aid kits, water purifier tablets, lock picks, binoculars, rope, a hatchet, a few knives, even a survival guide.

Alexander had also made sure that they had spare parts and the right cleaning kits for their weapons, he had also brought manuals on basic maintenance.

"Alex, why is it that you want to bring all these manuals and stuff? We both already know this." Alexander set his Stag rifle down; he had been attaching a rail for a flashlight to the end of the gun. Along with a strap that was attached where the butt of the rifle connected to the back of the lower receiver.

"Well it's simply really Qrow, we know what we're doing but the kids don't." Qrow raised an eyebrow.

"What do you expect them to be using guns to defend themselves?"

"Possibly, I hope they don't but if things get worse and we ended up getting split off from them, incapacitated or worse, I would like to at least know that they'll have the knowledge to at least help themselves." Alexander said.

"I also trust Jaune to be able to handle a handgun just fine; though using it in a practical sense to hurt another person will be his test in that regard but aside from that if we're forced out of Vale we're most likely going to take to the forests or hills nearby so I would like to have him to have said knowledge to use to help guide him. They're not things to rely on sure but they can help. Now catch." Alexander said before throwing a grey device at Qrow. Catching it he looked down to see that it was a handheld walkie talkie.

"Switch to channel 20, I've got eight more right here just in case, along with some rechargeable batteries but for now stick to the alkaline ones." Qrow nodded, something bashed against the window of the store, the two men turned to see a woman leaned up against the window. She wore a black business suit with what used to be a white blouse underneath. It was stained red by blood that was seeped from a wound on her shoulder.

"Please! Let me in!" She screamed, behind her Qrow could see a trio of figures across the parking lot turn to her.

"They're coming! Please you've got to help me!" Qrow reached out to open the door but Alexander grabbed his wrist.

"Stop." Qrow did a double take.

"What?! We've got to help her." Alexander pulled Qrow away from the door as the woman screamed in terror again; the figures had started to run towards them. Qrow tried to shake Alexander off him but Alexander resisted instead forcing Qrow up against the wall. For an old man Alexander wasn't weak, Qrow knew that he probably could get out of this but not without hurting him.

"Listen well Qrow, even if we help her, you saw what happened out there, the man was bitten, he bled out and died but came back to life. Think about it, it's not the bite itself that killed him but whatever was transferred from that woman to him. Now I know you saw it just as clearly as me that she was bitten as well, the human mouth contains thousands of bacteria at any given moment so if it gets infected we don't have the knowledge to treat it properly especially now." Qrow glowered at Alexander.

"You're a real fucking bastard you know that?" Alexander shook his head.

"You think I like this? You think I don't want to help her? I do but in the end Qrow my job isn't to help every single person out there, just the ones I care about." The woman's screams intensified despite moving away from the store window. Alexander released Qrow as they peered out from the door. The woman had tried running further down the shopping center but she had been wearing high heels making it difficult to run. A man had tackled her to the ground.

They watched as she continued to scream shrilly as another man and woman joined the first one. Her screams died slowly, Qrow closed his eyes looking away. He wanted to go out there and help her; he was a fucking police officer.

However what Alexander had said struck a chord in him as well, he had to find Ruby and Yang. If that meant condemning an innocent stranger to death, so be it. He felt sick with himself, so easy to throw away his moral convictions about helping those in need. He's seen the apathy and aversion people had when it came to wrong doings in his job almost on a daily occurrence.

He always thought low of those people to abandon their fellow human beings. The Bystander Effect was a bastard both in its concept and its truth.

He never thought one day he would be doing such a thing, admittedly he could argue that it's not the same scenario. Though he still had the ability to help the woman, to open the door and protect her but he didn't.

It was then that he realized it was because he was scared. If he ended up dying now, he'd never be able to save his nieces; if anything he would probably join the very things that would kill them.

"Qrow." Alexander whispered, he turned to face the man but he was still looking out the window his face stony as he watched the woman get devoured.

"I'm sorry for keeping you from acting but it was for the best." Qrow didn't say anything, he did feel a little resentment towards the older man but he didn't truly blame him.

"I get it Alex, I really do but that doesn't mean I like it." He said as he looked towards the ground, unable to look at either his face or the dying woman anymore.

"One more thing Qrow."

"Hm?"

"If I ever fall and you're forced to leave me behind, please. Look after my family." Qrow felt his heart clench both at the thought and why he felt the need to say that.

"The same to you." Qrow said simply after a few moments, the three people that had attacked the woman had seemed to finished and wondered off back towards the parking lot.

"Okay now's our chance, take three bags and I'll take three bags, it doesn't matter which three I'll lead the way with my truck and you'll follow, sound good?" Qrow nodded as Alexander went back to the counter, picking up his rifle slinging it over his head and around his torso. He grabbed three bags as Qrow grabbed three bags, with his Mossberg slung over his shoulder.

Alexander unlocked the door, and pushed it out slowly; peering around it he could see that no one living or otherwise was near them.

Thirty feet away was Qrow's Mustang, next to it was a red four door F-150 truck. Alexander looked over his shoulder, Qrow meeting his eyes, he nodded. The two men moved forward, Alexander making sure the door didn't make too much noise as he closed it, locking it from the outside.

Turning around he could see that Qrow had already made it to his Mustang, popping open the trunk and placing his bags in before closing it again. He pulled out his Glock to watch the surrounding area as Alexander moved to his truck.

He wanted to put the bags into the back but the possibility of it flying out when they were driving might be a problem. He looked at Qrow waiting for him to turn around; the other man tilted his head confused. Alexander held up his keys then pointed to Qrow's Mustang.

"I need to unlock it to put the bags inside, so get inside and be ready to move as fast as you can." Alexander said at a low tone, Qrow nodded and moved to the driver side of his car. Alexander moved towards the left side of his truck keeping an eye out, he could see a nearby liquor store where people inside where watching him.

He took a deep breath and unlocked his truck; the audible beep indicating that it was unlocked seemed to be three times louder than it should be.

He flung open the back door and placed the three duffel bags onto the back seat. He closed the door and reaching for the handle of the driver side door, looking up at the reflection of the window he could see two men sprinting at him.

Turning around Alexander took hold of his rifle and raised it up, falling into a squared stance. Lining the sights up on the closest of the two he could that the man's clothes were torn and with blood soaked into it. He didn't hesitate as he pulled the trigger the rifle bucking slightly in his hands.

He watched as the man jerked back a little, as the bullet hit his right shoulder but he didn't slow down. Alexander fired more three times this time making sure to put them as center as he could, the man finally fell after the third round.

Alexander quickly switched his sights to the other man who was closing in on him. He calmly put half a dozen rounds into the man who fell forward, skidding across the ground from the momentum of sprinting.

It seems that they can handle more than a few shots from a rifle; this was both startling and welcome news. Welcome in the sense that they're not some invincible monster and startling because of the implications. It meant that even with a gun, fighting alone or in a group as against any large amount may prove troublesome.

Alexander opened the door of the truck, pulling off the rifle from his body and stepping in the truck. As he closed the door, something stopped the movement. Snapping his head around, he saw the woman from early holding the door.

The left side of her face was torn up; skin and muscle had been torn away along with her left eye, loose flesh hung from her mouth. He realized that it was her lips, her lipless mouth revealed blood stained teeth.

She opened her mouth wide as she lunged at him.

 **Elsewhere…**

* * *

Jaune was taking a sip of water at fountain that was built into the wall. The sirens were a lot louder now; Jaune reckoned something must have happened nearby now for that to be the case.

He stood up and looked to his right; an open door was located a few feet from where he was. There was a breeze today and with it the smell of smoke could be detected. He frowned as he thought back to what Ren told him.

If Vale was undergoing a meltdown like Vacuo at this very moment, spending time sitting around in class wasn't going to help. Someone tapped his shoulder and he turned to see Pyrrha standing with a hand on her hip, an amused smile apparent on her face.

"Jaune, drinking water is an important part of working out but wasting it isn't doing you any good now." She said pointing at the water fountain; he felt his face flush as he realized that he was still holding down the lever for water despite just standing there.

"Haha, sorry about that Pyr." Jaune said as he stepped aside, something buzzed in his shorts and he pulled out his phone, missing Pyrrha's face as she blushed. He saw that it was a text message from his mom, which is strange; normally she's still asleep at this time. He opened it up and started to read.

Pyrrha felt the cool water flood through her body as she stood back up from the water fountain. It also helped give her time to beat down the heat that has risen to her face when Jaune called her that. Did he just give her a nickname? It was the first time anyone had really done that, sure Yang would play with her name but she did that with everyone so it wasn't really special.

She looked towards the blonde teen and frowned as she saw him staring intently at his phone. At first it was nothing but she noticed the look in his eyes as if he just realized that he had forgotten to study for midterms or something.

"Jaune?" She asked but he didn't respond she reached out tentatively with her right hand. Her heart beating faster for some reason as it closed on his shoulder but he snapped his head up and she retracted her hand.

"We need to leave." He said simply, Pyrrha frowned in confusion.

"What?" Behind Jaune Yatsuhashi turned to stare at him as well, having overheard him.

"No time to explain Pyrrha, we just have to get out." He grabbed her hand and started to pull her towards the door when Yatsuhashi stepped in his way.

"Jaune answer the question." He said Pyrrha could see though that the older teen's body was tensing as if expecting something physical. Jaune's hand let go of Pyrrha and he took a deep breath.

"Alright fine, my mom just sent me a text message saying to gather my sisters and wait for my old man to pick them up then to head home and prepare to leave Vale." Pyrrha frowned at that.

"Why?" Jaune shook his head.

"I don't for sure but something tells me it has to do with all these sirens we've been hearing, no doubt some of them were ambulances heading to hospitals. My mom's a nurse she's probably seen something that's making her panic, which if you knew my mother would know that's she's got a pretty cool head. At the same time, Ren and I have been thinking that whatever happened in Vacuo is happening in Vale. Vacuo fell apart and from what we read and seen from articles and videos of it, it started like this before falling completely apart within days." Pyrrha wasn't really sure what to say at that, so she just nodded slowly.

"You don't believe me do you?" Jaune asked in an exasperated voice.

"Jaune I'm sure that you and Ren put a lot of thought into this but surely you're just being…well overcautious about this." Unfortunately there was a commotion outside, people in the gym seemed to stop what they were doing and run outside.

"Come on." Jaune said as Yatsuhashi stepped aside, the three teens entered the cool hallway of the building, and everyone else was pressed up against the glass of the hallway looking outside. Jaune walked up towards it to see a man in a suit stumbling around in the distance.

Even from about forty yards away, Jaune could tell that he's clothes were torn up. Though why that was the case didn't make any sense.

"Alright, everyone stay inside no matter what!" Coach Elba shouted as he headed towards a pair of doors that led outside. Everyone watched as he made his way towards the stranger, they watched as he raised a hand. The stranger jerked towards the direction of Coach Elba, Jaune felt his throat tighten in fear, something was wrong here.

Elba seemed to freeze up himself, students whispered amongst themselves as to what's going on. Elba took another step forward, the stranger started to run at him. A commotion broke out from the students as they saw Elba turn and run back towards them.

He was waving his arms, shouting something but no one could hear it as the stranger closed in on him. They watched as Elba was brought down to the ground. Panic broke out amongst them as they watched the stranger lean down, face pressed against the back of Elba's neck and rear up again. Something red came away from Elba's back.

That's when they heard the screaming, a pure horrified scream of pain that couldn't come from anyone but Coach Elba. The stranger leaned back down and they could see Elba struggles to free himself lessen till he stopped completely.

Jaune could feel his heard beat rapidly in his chest; something gripped his hand causing him to jump a little. Looking down he could see it was Pyrrha's hand.

"D-D-Did he just really bit him?" Pyrrha stammered out, fear lacing her voice. In the distance Jaune realized that he could see more people coming from sports fields. Beyond those were residential houses, was that were they were coming from? There was a ding indicating the school's P.A. system turning on, Assistant Principal Tanner's voice came on, shaky and breathless as if he had been running.

"All students and Faculty must remain indoors; the school is now in Lockdown until further notice." There was a sound of something getting knocked over, there was a squeal of static, everyone expect it to shut off but apparently Tanner forgot to do that.

"Come on, hurry the fuck up we gotta get out of here." Tanner was heard talking to someone.

"What about the kids?" A new voice asked Jaune recognized Principal Matthews.

"Fuck the kids, you saw what that thing did to Ms. Jose, we're all fucking dead if we don't get out."

"You fucking moron! You left the P.A. system on!" There was a squelch of static and the system died, everyone in the hallway began panicking, Jaune turned to Pyrrha and Yatsuhashi.

"We need to get our stuff and get out of here." Jaune said the two teens nodded solemnly. Jaune pulled out his phone, and was about to dial Ren's number when he called.

"Ren, where are you?" Jaune asked the sound of people yelling could be heard in the background.

"I'm in the science wing; I'm heading towards you right now, I texted Nora, she says she is already by the locker rooms."

"Alright, Pyrrha and Yatsuhashi are with me, we'll wait for you there, be safe."

"You too." Ren hung up, Jaune turned to Pyrrha and Yatsuhashi.

"You cool with coming with us Yatsuhashi?" The bigger teen nodded.

"I need to find Velvet, Coco and Fox, till then I'll stick with you." Jaune nodded before looking at Pyrrha. He could see that she was frightened; if this was any other situation he would have thought she looked cute but now wasn't the time.

"Pyrrha, are you okay?" Jaune asked and winced, of course she wasn't okay, shit he wasn't okay either.

"I-I-I'm fine; just give me a few minutes." Jaune nodded as he turned around, most of the students that were in the hallway were panicking or leaving the building. Jaune wanted to stop them, that going out there was a bad idea but really, they needed to leave as well to get to the lockers.

"So what's the plan Jaune?" Yatsuhashi asked as they watched more students left the other buildings to try and leave the school. Jaune watched as numerous students ran essentially into the jaws of death. Strangers just like the man that attacked Coach Elba started to chase down the students and faculty that tried leaving through the back areas.

"We get to the lockers and take what stuff we need from them, I also need to head to my locker in the main building." Yatsuhashi tilted his head a little in confusion.

"My riding gear is in there, I'd prefer to wear it when I ride plus I think it might be useful for some protection." The taller teen nodded, Jaune watched as more people ran down students, attacking them in a similar manner as Elba.

Jaune turned to Pyrrha who met his eyes, she nodded once, and he could see that she nervous. He couldn't blame her; his hands were cold and sweaty with his heart beating at a hundred miles an hour.

"Alright let's go to the far side, I don't want to be any closer to those people than I need to be." Jaune said taking off at a jog down to their left down the hallway. He could hear Pyrrha and Yatsuhashi following close behind him.

Reaching the end of the hallway, there was a set of double doors to his right and another hallway that led to the lockers on his left. Jaune decided to go peek out the door again, gesturing for Pyrrha and Yatsuhashi to go on ahead of him. He saw Pyrrha hesitating before running down the hallway after Yatsuhashi.

Looking out the double doors of the building he could see more students were running. Most of them heading towards the field, which meant they didn't know about the people back there but if they were going that way wouldn't it mean they were running from something he didn't know about?

He shook his head and took off down the hallway. A few other students and faculty members were still in the hallways, people were yelling and Jaune could even see a few people fighting each other. He shook his head in disgust as if now was truly to time to settle some old score.

Jaune entered the boy's locker room and made his way to his locker, papers and bags were strewn all over the floor. Why was it that in every panic or disastrous situation loose paper was always lying around? He shook his head; it was a question for another time.

He slipped on his clothes, a grey shirt over worn blue jeans with a red and black checker flannel. He tucked his keys into his front pocket; Yatsuhashi rounded the corner wearing green sweater and brown khakis.

"Jaune! You in there!?" The voice of Nora called out.

"We're coming!" Jaune replied gesturing for Yatsuhashi to follow him. As they exited the locker room, Pyrrha and Nora stood in the hallway. Nora wore a blue bomber jacket with jeans while Pyrrha wore a red jacket with black yoga pants on. Jaune made sure to not get distracted as he looked down the hallways, which seemed to be deserted now.

"Jaune!" A familiar male voice called out and he turned to see Ren running down the hallway wearing a dark green zip up jacket and dark jeans. Even more surprising was Coco and Velvet were right behind him.

"You guys made it, did anyone follow you?" Jaune asked as he stepped forward, his hand extended, Ren shook his hand. Jaune noticed something on Coco's, cocoa-colored shirt, was a large dark splotch. Coco must have noticed Jaune's staring as her hand shakily reached up to take off her trademark sunglasses.

"It's Fox." She said and Jaune tilted his head in confusion.

"The three of us were running together when some woman tackled Fox to the ground, I kicked her off him and tried picking him back up to his feet but the woman just grabbed hold and bit his shoulder, his blood got on me. He pushed me away telling us to run as the bitch ate him. So we did, we followed this guy in as we saw he was heading here as well since we wanted to find you Yatsuhashi." Coco said, addressing them, Velvet stepped forward putting her hand on Yatsuhashi's arm. The teen simply nodded but Jaune could see that his cool was shaken to hear that is friend was dead.

"So Arc, what are you guys planning?" Coco said after a few moments as the seven of them just stood there in silence. Jaune took a deep breath running a hand through his hair.

"Well we're going to find my sisters then wait for my old man to come, and then I'm having Nora, Ren and Pyrrha accompany them as they head to our house. While I take my bike and follow behind them." Pyrrha snapped her head around at that but she didn't say anything.

"Is it cool if we accompany you? I've got my own car so we can ride in that." Jaune looked at Ren, who just shrugged.

"Alright then, we need to head to the main building, it's were my riding gear is and the closest building to the parking lot, we can hold up there till the time comes."

"What about those people out there? We're gonna need to defend ourselves from them." Ren spoke up, Jaune scratched his cheek.

"Well if we're here where the P.E. classes and sports stuff is kept why not find something amongst that equipment like some bats from the baseball team." Nora suggested Jaune nodded before looking at the others.

"That sounds good to you guys?" They nodded and the seven teens headed down the hallway to look for the sports equipment room. After a few minutes of navigating the hallways, a loud scream echoed throughout the building. It sounded like a woman, she was begging for her life but her tirade was cut off by another pained scream.

"We've gotta hurry, now." Jaune said, gesturing for the others to go on ahead as he closed a set of double doors behind them. His phone vibrated in his jeans and he reached into his back pocket pulling out his phone, Helena was calling him.

"Helena, where are you?" Jaune asked as soon as he hit answer, jogging through the hallways after the others.

"We're in the main building, we figured we'd meet you there since that's where you locker is with the motorcycle stuff."

"Alright, I'm here with Ren, Nora and a few others, we'll be there as soon as we can, find someplace to hide and don't answer to anyone but one of us."

"Alright I'll tell the others that as well."

"Stay safe Helena, I'm on my way." He could hear his sister start to say something but her voice choked up and she hung up. Jaune slipped his phone back into his pocket when he heard the sound of running behind him. He slipped to the side, hiding in a doorway when something hit the double doors that he had closed.

Peering around the corner he could see that something was beating against it, a normal human would have just been able to open it. In the windows of the door he could see a smear of red, it was blood.

Whoever it was, it wasn't human as far as he was concerned, but that thing he had seen killing Elba. After a few moments the beating stopped and the sound of running followed by another scream could be heard. Jaune stepped out from the door way and backed away slowly before turning around, running straight into Pyrrha.

They both fell to the floor, and Jaune realized he was lying on top of her. He immediately stood up and held a hand out for her to grab, trying his best not to look her in the eyes. All he wanted to do now as just climb into a locker and go to sleep.

"I-I-I'm so sorry Pyrrha I-I was distracted and didn't hear you behind me." Jaune stammered out but he felt the cool skin of her hand gripping his and he pulled her up to her feet.

"I understand Jaune; it was my fault for running into you as well so no need to worry about it." She said smiling and Jaune wasn't sure what say. She nodded her head to the side indicating him to follow her.

"Come on, we found the baseball supply room, Coco's trying to open it right now." Jaune frowned.

"Open it? How?" Pyrrha winked, and Jaune could feel his face flush in surprise.

"That's a woman's secret." Jaune shook his head as he followed Pyrrha, after a few minutes of running through the hallways they turned the corner to see Velvet standing at the far end.

"Over here!" She called out, waving a hand for them to follow. As they turned the corner they saw an open door with the lights on. Coco stepped out with a blue aluminum bat, Yatsuhashi followed behind holding two bats. Velvet walked up to him, which he handed her a brown bat.

"Jaune, I've got one for you." Ren said as he and Nora came out next holding two bats.

"Pyrrha! I picked a bat for you as well!" Nora cheered as she skipped towards the redhead. One would think that nothing was really going on by the way she acted. She held two large bats there were both red, she handed one to Pyrrha. As Ren walked up to Jaune, he handed him a silver bat while he had a green and black bat.

"Alright we've got something to defend ourselves with, but I would rather we avoid getting in contact with anyone nonetheless." The teens nodded in agreement as Jaune checked his phone for any calls or messages from his parents but there was none. A sudden thought hit Jaune as he turned towards Coco.

"You know once we're at the main building you don't have to stick around if you don't want too, you said you had a car you can escape." Coco surprisingly looked conflicted about this, but Jaune could tell that she was in a sense happy to be given an out.

"How about this, I can take one of your sisters with me and drop her off at your place along with Velvet and Yatsuhashi, then come back for the rest of you." Jaune scratched his chin in thought it wasn't that bad of an idea.

"Maybe but for now let's just get over there." Jaune said and the assembled teens nodded. They took off again down the hallway this time heading towards the south exterior exit. As they neared the last set of double doors, passing empty rooms and offices, Jaune motioned for them to slow down.

Peering through the glass he could see more than a few figures spread out to east and west. None of them were too close but he could make out a few blood stained clothes, which must have meant that they were attacked. Jaune didn't want to get close and see if they were alright, he turned to address the group.

"Alright, I'll take lead and go out first, I'll signal you to follow if it's clear. Nora you're on my left, Pyrrha on my right, Coco you and Velvet stay in the middle, lastly Yatsuhashi, Ren you're bringing up the rear. Once we're out there, no unnecessary sounds alright." Once again he could see Pyrrha hesitate but she didn't say anything. Jaune turned around and slowly pushed the door open. Crouching low he descended the steps, the smell of smoke was surprisingly thick in the air.

Looking to the east he could see the sooty black clouds of smoke rising high into the sky. There must be a massive fire going on nearby. Looking around on the black asphalt he could see bags and other personal belongings that had been abandoned in the rush to leave school.

So far no one had looked at him yet, moving forward in a low crouch he made it about thirty feet from the door when he decided to stop. Turning around slightly he gestured with one hand for them to follow, the door openly slowly and Yatsuhashi held it open as the others quietly headed down the steps.

Jaune watched as Yatsuhashi slowly closed the door, behind them without a sound. He headed down the steps to follow the rest of them as they made their way across the school grounds. It was about halfway through that they heard a sound. It was a low guttural sound, like something breathing out with an excess amount of phlegm in their throat.

Jaune saw that a girl was limping towards him; she wore a knee length skirt and a pink blouse with a grey cardigan on top. However the abdomen area of her clothes had been ripped open, hanging from the torn skin of their stomach were her entrails which were being dragged across the ground. Her movement was slowly and jerky causing the loose intestines to fall further out.

Jaune could feel the acidic quality of bile rising up but he clamped his mouth shut willing to keep it from going any farther up. He waited as the girl continued on; Jaune realized that he had been holding his breath the entire time. He slowly released it, before exhaling slowly.

At that moment something shattered on the ground in front of him. Jaune froze, it was a bottle. He slowly looked up to see the girl from before standing still. She snapped around, Jaune could imagine her glazed over eyes staring right at him as she charged.

"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck." Jaune repeated like a mantra as he stood up, reading the baseball bat, the girl issued another guttural sound like before but much louder. Behind her he could see others locking up as well, as she closed in Jaune stepped forward, swinging as hard as he could.

The sound of the bat cracking her skull was something Jaune doubt he could ever forget. It was a wet crack as the bat smashed into her temple, sending her sprawling to the ground.

Jaune gestured for the others to keep moving as the girl sat back up, Jaune could see that he had cracked her right temple destroying the eye in its socket. The skin was deformed and uneven, blood leaked from where skin broke from the strike.

Jaune swung downwards; the bat skidded off to the side this time he could see the blow had caved the right side of her skull inwards. Blood oozed out of the broken skin in the impact area; however the girl wasn't done trying to get up.

Jaune swung again, his aim was off going far lower, the bat impacted her lower jaw and Jaune watched almost as if in slow motion as her jaw deformed.

Teeth broke off and flew out from her face as her jaw collapsed from the impact of the bat before time sped up again. She fell back this time, her jaw was completely gone. Blood was oozing down her neck her tongue and other loose flesh flopping down the neck, no longer constrained by the jaw.

Jaune looked up to see that more people were running towards him. He turned back towards the main building and broke into a run but for some reason his legs didn't seem to want to work. He fought to keep bile down as he willed his legs to move faster. The sound running was getting closer; he was less than a dozen feet away.

He could see his friends waving at him frantically to hurry up. Jaune stumbled up the steps before finally falling through the double doors of the building, Yatsuhashi and Pyrrha closed it behind him. Pyrrha slipped her bat through the handles of the door to hold it in place as several bodies started slamming against it.

"I'm not sure how long that's gonna hold you guys." Pyrrha said as she backed away, disgust filling her at the sight of blood smearing the windows from the people trying to get in. She turned to see Jaune crawling to one side of the hallway to empty the contents of his stomach on the floor, retching at what he had done.

"Jaune, are you alright?" Ren asked as he kneeled down, waiting for his friend to finish up. After a few moments Jaune was just dry heaving but finally was able to stop.

Sitting back Ren could see that his friend was pale, shaky, and breathing heavily, he was in shock. Not that he could blame him, he saw what Jaune did to that girl, and he didn't think he would react any different himself.

"That was fucked up man." Jaune said after a while before starting to get up, Ren stood first holding his hand out so Jaune could grab it. Jaune took it; Ren could feel how cold and clammy his hands were.

"Let's get moving." Jaune said simply but this time Pyrrha stepped forward.

"Jaune are you sure? You're not looking so great." Jaune nodded as he took a shaky step forward until he was a little more surefooted. Pyrrha frowned as she watched he walk down the hallway, Ren, Nora, Coco and Yatsuhashi followed after him.

Pyrrha turned to look at Velvet; she didn't know the girl that well other than what she's been told. She wore a large brown sweater with black sweat pants. Even with those clothes Pyrrha could tell she was a thin girl, holding the bat just seemed to accent it even more.

"You okay Velvet?" Pyrrha asked, the brown hair girl looked up at her, looking as if she was on the verge of tears.

"I-I'm o-okay." She said before holding out her bat, Pyrrha looked puzzled.

"Y-you used yours to block the door, so here's mine, you'll probably make better use of it then me." Pyrrha smiled, putting her hand on the girl's shoulder. She flinched at the contact and Pyrrha felt sorry for the girl.

"Thank you Velvet, I mean it." The brown hair girl shook her head as turned to walk away, following the others. Pyrrha frowned, that lack of self-confidence in herself isn't going to be a good thing, especially now.

Pyrrha looked back at the double doors, the people, things, or whatever was still trying to get in. Pyrrha backed away, keeping an eye on the door until she turned around and jogged further into the building to catch up.

After a few minutes of running past empty classrooms and hallways where backpacks, loose paper and other belongings were strewn on the floor. She entered the main rotunda of the building; it was a large room able to fit over several hundred people at any given time.

Another structure was built into the center with doors lining the bottom for faculty members. A staircase on the outside led to the second floor where counselors and the principle office were located.

Thought Pyrrha doubted they were still in there given what they had all heard earlier over the P.A. system. Looking around she was surprised to see that there was a number of other students as well.

"Pyrrha!" A familiar voice called out, Pyrrha turned to see a shower of bright gold hair clouded her vision, a pair of arms circling around her torso.

"It's good to see you Yang." Pyrrha said as Yang released her hold. Yang was wearing fitted black jeans with brown boots going up to mid-calf with a brown and gold stripped leather jacket along with black leather riding glove.

"Do you know what's going on out there?" Pyrrha asked Yang shook her head.

"I was hoping you might have an idea, I was trying to get Ruby out of here but the parking lot was swarming with students, teachers, and those things we decided to head back inside to wait till the commotion died down." Pyrrha nodded in understand.

"Jaune, Yatsuhashi and I all saw Coach Elba go out to confront one of them before the panic started, the guy attack him and started to eat him." Yang's eyes widened in surprise to hear that, Pyrrha realized that she hasn't seen what exactly was going on.

"Eat him?" Pyrrha nodded.

"Yea it was crazy but before that Jaune got a text from his folks telling him to find his sisters and wait till his father got here to pick them up and get home afterward." Yang nodded slightly but Pyrrha could see that she was still contemplating over what Pyrrha said about Coach Elba.

"Have you seen Jaune come in?" Pyrrha asked for a second she thought she saw something flash in Yang's eyes but ignored it.

"Yea but he ran off with Ren and Nora as soon as they found a corner to sit in." Yang pointed behind her to the far western corner of the rotunda.

Coco, Velvet and Yatsuhashi were sitting at a circular table looking exhausted. Weiss, Blake, Ruby along with the others had moved over to join them. However she noticed that Scarlet and Sage were missing. As they made their way over to the group, Pyrrha remember one of the reasons Jaune wanted to come to the main building.

"Oh yea, Jaune must have gone off to look for his sisters." Yang looked at Pyrrha confused.

"He's got sisters?" Pyrrha nodded.

"Yea he said that he's father told him to gather his sisters to wait for him to come and pick them up so they can get home." Yang nodded slowly at that.

"At least he's got a plan." She said aloud as they joined the group.

"Who's got what plan?" Weiss asked, her voice as petulant as ever, Pyrrha could help but feel her nerves fray at the other girl's voice. Yang brought forth her mane of hair, brushing it slowly as she sat down in an empty chair.

"Oh, Pyrrha was just telling me how Jaune plans of waiting for his father to come and gather his sister while he rides on his bike back home." Everyone save Pyrrha, Coco, Velvet and Yatsuhashi turned to Yang in surprise to hear that.

"Really? I couldn't get through to my old man and Blake's dad said he wouldn't be able to make it due to whatever's going on." Sun said he wore a white shirt along with a pair of faded blue jeans. Blake was wearing a black hoodie with a normal pair of blue jeans.

"Hey, a plan is a plan isn't it?" Coco said as she leaned forward, resting her chin on a palm.

"Maybe we can group up with him till this all blows over." Ruby spoke up; she wore a black with red sleeves inclined zipper hoodie. Along with dark jeans and black combat boots that were loosely tied at the top.

"Arc's cool with us tagging along I'm sure he'd be fine with you coming as well." Coco said, Ruby smiled and nodded at the older girl who returned it.

"Yea but how do we get there?" Pyrrha asked, feeling that it would better to get that cleared out now rather than later.

"Well I've got Bumblebee, so I can take Ruby with me." Yang said as Sun fished out a lanyard, holding several keys along with a banana and cat accessory on it.

"I've got my jeep, it can hold six if we cram a few in the back." At that moment Coco looked up and started to wave. The group turned around to see Jaune, leading Nora, Ren and three younger blond girls.

One girl was roughly five feet, six inches with short blonde hair that barely reached down to her neck; she wore a white blouse with faded blue jeans.

The second girl was the same height but had longer hair tied up in a bun, she wore a white denim jacket with a black shirt underneath along with black jeans.

The third girl was taller nearly reaching six feet; she had longer strawberry blonde hair that reached down to the small of her back. She wore a form fitting shirt pink shirt and black yoga pants. Pyrrha couldn't help but note that she was also the more, developed, girl of the three. No doubt Jaune was aware of that by the way he stood in front of her with his fists clenched.

"Jaune! You're back." Pyrrha said, standing up from her chair, the blonde teen simply smiled before looking at the group.

"Hey guys, I guess introductions are needed so let's get this done quickly. This is Helena, Claire and Miriya, they're my sisters." Jaune said pointing first to the tallest, then the girl with her hair in a bun and lastly the girl with the short hair. Each girl in turn nodded and said their own greetings to everyone at the table.

"So what were ya'll talking about before we got here?" Jaune asked as he brought over a few chairs for his sisters to sit in as he moved around to the wall behind them where lockers were lined up. Pyrrha spoke up as he opened the locker up to reveal his riding gear.

"Oh we were just wondering if you'd be okay if Yang and the others could tag along with us to your place." Jaune turned, confusion etched across his face.

"Of course, we don't live that far away and the house is used to being cramped but aside from Yang and Coco have vehicles, how are we gonna get everyone there?" Sun held up his keys again.

"I've got a 93' Grand Cherokee." Jaune nodded as he strapped on his knee guards, which extended a few inches up his thigh and six inches down his shin.

"Great, Ren, and Nora you two should be able to fit in my dad's truck along with my sisters. Coco you said you can fit four so Pyrrha you can go with her as well. Sun I assume Blake is obviously going to go with you but you can also take Weiss, Neptune and maybe fit in Ruby unless Yang wants her to go with her." Yang nodded as she turned to face Ruby.

"You're gonna stick with Sun little sis, it's not safe for you to ride with me at the moment." Ruby crossed her arms as she rolled her eyes as she deadpanned.

"The way you drive Yang, I was never safe to begin with." Jaune couldn't but laugh as well as most of them, except Weiss who just seemed to have a permanent scowl on her face before opening her mouth.

"I have a question." She said bluntly everyone turned to look at her.

"Why are we making these plans to go to your home Arc?" Jaune tilted his head confused by what she meant.

"To stay safe and plan our next move." She rolled her eyes as if he said something incredibly stupid.

"I mean why though, all we have to do is just wait for the Police to show up and deal with these. Ruffians." She waved her hand ambiguously; Jaune was starting to get an idea of what was going on.

"Weiss, do you know what's actually going on?" She scoffed.

"Of course I know, some creeps wondered onto campus and now we're in lockdown, I don't know why everyone panicked or why you're carrying baseball bats like a bunch of vigilantes but I know when the Police arrive everything will be solved." Surprisingly enough Velvet was the first to respond, slamming her palm onto the table.

"Fox is dead, we saw him get killed by those people, if you're too much of a prissy little princess to believe us then go outside and see for yourself. But don't come crying for us to save you when they're ripping you apart." Weiss visible closed her mouth; most of the people at the table were surprised to see such an outburst from Velvet of all people. Coco and Yatsuhashi placed their hands on her shoulders as her composure finally broke, tears glistening in her eyes before falling.

"Look you can think what you want Weiss, I'm just trying to keep my friends and family alive. I know you hate me for what I did and I can't take it back but doing whatever this is you're doing isn't going to help anyone, yourself included. So trust us, and if you can't trust me fine, just trust you friends." Jaune said simply as he slipped his elbow guards on, Weiss glared at him.

He could see the utter disdain she had for him. Some may think it's irrational but people aren't truly rational at all. They're slaves to their thoughts and emotions to the point that only they can ultimately change their mind. At that point the last person Jaune wanted to hear or even see appeared.

"Well if it isn't the cuck Jaune Boy." Jaune turned to see the sneering face of Cardin Winchester with his usual group of cronies at his back. Something in his smile made Jaune uneasy, maybe it's because Cardin choose this of all time to make his appearance again. He had been hoping that video that Coco had spread would have shamed Cardin enough to not confront him again.

"Looks like he's made some fine new lady friends, hey girls why don't you ditch this loser and hang out with real men who can protect you." Cardin said as he approached Helena, Jaune felt his eye twitch in rage. Instead Pyrrha stood up between Helena and Cardin, her arms crossed a dark look of her own visible on her face, Cardin recoiled a little at the sight of her.

"Well if it isn't the tranny slut Pyrrha Nikos." A ripple of anger spread across the table but instead Pyrrha gave a saccharine smile.

"Why Cardin it sounds like you're implying I'm really a man in disguise, it would make sense though cause I have a bigger pair of balls then you anyway." Jaune finished strapping his chest guard on, watching Cardin in the corner of his eye he could practically feel something was about to happen.

"Now if you excuse us, we're talking." Pyrrha said as she turned her back on him.

"Yea! Fuck off!" Sun called out, Blake elbowing him to quiet down. Jaune watched as Cardin pulled something from behind him. However he was too slow and too far away to do anything. Instead Yatsuhashi stood up, between him and Pyrrha as Cardin jammed something forward.

They watched as the two teens were pressed against each other; before Yatsuhashi stumbled back clenching his stomach. His back slammed into the table they were sitting at, tipping it over.

Jaune and Sun rushed Cardin as he turned to Pyrrha who stared in mute horror at Yatsuhashi. Velvet was screaming in terror as Coco stood over her, trying to block her sight.

Blake, Ruby, and Ren were by the bigger teen's side, Jaune grabbed Cardin's arm which was holding a box cutter. The dull grey steel of the blades were red from stabbing Yatsuhashi. Sun wailed on Cardin, punching him repeatedly in the face before sending a hard jab at his throat. The bigger teen reddened at the strike.

Jaune let go as he shoved Cardin away before sending a right hook straight into Cardin's jaw. He finally fell back, letting go of the box cutter. Sun kicked Cardin in the side of the head, the larger teen slumped sideways unconscious. Looking down at the bloody box cutter, Jaune kicked them away before looking up at Dove, Russel, and Sky.

"Is this what you fucking wanted?! Stabbing someone to prove you're the fucking Alpha dogs of the school?! You're all fucking bastards!" Jaune screamed raising his clenched fists as he moved towards them, the three teens stumbled back.

"We thought him throwing that bottle was enough but this is too far! He said he was just going to teach you a lesson! Not this!" Dove bawled in terror as Sun and Jaune closed in on them. Other students and teachers running over to see what the commotion was. The three teens scrambled away, the oblivious crowd not stopping them as they ran out of the rotunda.

Jaune turned around and went back to the group; Yang was comforting Ruby as the younger girl buried her face against her sister. Neptune was comforting Weiss, Nora, Ren stood over Yatsuhashi. Jaune noticed that Ren had taken off his jacket, looking down he saw that it was draped over the teen's face.

The magenta eyed teen had blood covering his hands and forearms. He looked over at Jaune and shook his head slightly.

His sisters were holding comforting each other; Claire was sniffling as she tried to hold back her tears. Jaune went over to them, the three breaking apart as they rushed to hug him as well. Jaune draped his arms over them comforting them the best he could. Looking to the side he could see Pyrrha's ashen face staring memorized at the ground.

Jaune tapped his sister's to indicate for them to let him go; leaving their embrace Jaune stepped towards Pyrrha. She looked up at him and he could see tears brimming in her eyes before embracing him as well. Jaune wrapped his arms around her holding her as she started to cry, Jaune himself was at a loss for words. After a few moments he felt something vibrating in his pocket.

Reaching down with his right arm, he fished into his pockets to pull out his phone. He turned the display on and saw that it was a text from his dad.

-Almost there, get ready- Jaune closed his eyes, he needed to be strong. As much as he wanted to just lie down and go to sleep for the rest of the week, the world had different plans. Jaune tapped Pyrrha's back slightly so she would let go of him, he could tell that she hesitated in that but paid no mind to it.

"Nora do me a favor, find some tape, preferably duct tape, if not rope or chains will work also." The bubbly orange hair girl who had been abnormally quiet nodded and walked away. Ren stepped closer to Jaune and Pyrrha.

"What's up?" He asked and Jaune held up his phone.

"My old man is nearly here, we need to get ready." Ren shook his head.

"Jaune I admire your ability to handle this but I'm not sure the others can, Velvet looks like she's on the verge of a breakdown, Ruby and Weiss seem to be in shock as well." Jaune sighed; of course it wasn't going to be any easier.

"What are you guys talking about?" Yang called out, Ruby was sticking close behind her as the blonde girl joined them.

"My father is nearly here, we've need to be ready to move." Yang nodded slowly.

"Well I'm ready when you are Jaune." She said Jaune could see the steely determination in her lilac eyes and nodded in return before looking at everyone else.

"Alright, I know we're all upset about Yatsuhashi, I liked him as well, he was a good guy but he wouldn't want us to get caught up over him when things are still dangerous." Weiss seemed to snap a look at Jaune.

"Have you no remorse Jaune Arc, he's dead and now you're using it to further your own goals." Jaune rubbed his eyes in irritation.

"Look I know that's what it seems like but we've got to keep going, Helena, Claire, Miriya, dad just texted me that he's nearly here. So get what you need and let's move, Sun, Blake if you're still coming with us now would be the time to get ready as well." Jaune said, scooping up two bats, walking over to Sun and holding one out. The other blonde teen gingerly took it before nodding.

"Weiss I think we should stick with them for now." Jaune overheard Neptune whispering loudly, Weiss scoffed before clicking her tongue in annoyance.

"Fine but keep an eye out on Arc, I don't trust him." She said in an equally low voice, Jaune paid no heed to her distrust and turned around to see Nora running back with several rolls of duct tape.

"So Fearless Leader, what's with the tape?" Jaune sighed with a slight smile.

"First Nora I am not the leader, second I'm far from fearless, as for the tape it's for that." Jaune said curling his lips in disgust as he pointed at the unconscious form of Cardin, Nora grinned before jumping to her task.

"Jaune are you really gonna tie him up like that?" Ruby asked from behind Yang, surprise evident on her young face. Jaune didn't answer her as he picked up his helmet, looking at the black tinted visor before slipping it on his head. He slipped on his gloves and held his bat in both hands, looking down at the slightly dent in the side, a few droplets of dried blood were on it.

"Let's move." Jaune said simply before taking off in a jog towards the front of the building ignoring the various other students and faculty that simple stood by idly. He could hear the numerous sounds of footsteps behind him as he moved through the empty hallways of the building. Round the corner he saw the front entrance of the building and stopped.

As the others arrived Jaune slowly crept forward, keeping his grip on the baseball bat tight as he neared the door. On the other side he couldn't help but notice at least several small pools of blood.

"Where are the bodies though?" Jaune murmured to himself.

"No doubt they're looking around for their next victim." Ren whispered in return, Jaune felt his heart stop in sheer terror.

"Holy fuck Ren, don't scare me like that." Jaune angrily whispered back but Ren simply put a finger to his lips before pointing out the door.

Jaune narrowed his eyes as he saw that people were milling around the parked cars of the school parking lot but not like a normal person would do. No, they were different, more like the students they encountered on their way to the main building. In the distance more smoke billowed into the sky and Jaune could see several helicopters in the air.

The sound of car engines drew Jaune's attention back to the earth as a red four door truck followed by a Mustang came careening from the main street into the parking lot. Footsteps echoed behind Jaune as Ruby and Yang appeared by their side with surprised looks on their faces.

"I knew it! It's uncle Qrow!" Ruby said delighted.

"Well I'll be damned." Yang muttered as the two vehicles pulled to the front curb of the main building. Jaune watched as his father appeared on the other side of the truck holding rifle aimed outwards as dozens of people started running towards them. Jaune flinched a little as rapid sharp bangs of Alexander firing meant he had a run in with whatever's going on as well. There was also a duller but still equally loud boom of a shotgun going off.

A tall dark hair man came into view holding what Jaune could see was a Mossberg 500. Jaune opened the door with Yang, Ruby behind him. Ren stood inside beckoning everyone else to come out.

"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby cried and looked like she was going to run forward to hug the man but Yang held her back. He still had the shotgun in his hands and wore a dour looking expression on his face.

"Alright hurry up we can't stick around here forever." The man grunted before turning around to descend the steps, Jaune looked back at the group.

"Nora, cover the left side, Ren and Sun the rear, I'll cover our right. Remember to stick close to this man and don't get in his line of sight." Jaune called out, the group didn't verbally respond but Jaune could see them moving into position as they ran after Qrow.

Jaune was glad he had the helmet on, it would keep everyone from seeing how absolutely terrified he was heading out. Gunfire still echoed across the parking lot as Alexander kept the people at bay.

"Dad!" Jaune screamed as they reached the cars but Alexander didn't acknowledge him, he turned to Qrow lifting his helmet visor up.

"We need to get Coco and Sun to their car, so they can follow us!" He shouted pointing at both of them as they stood next to him. Qrow's red eyes simply stared before nodding, he took out something and handed it to Jaune, it was a walkie talkie. He clicked what he assumed the push to talk button was.

"Hello?" The rifle fire paused for a second, his dad's voice echoed from the device.

"Jaune!? Get your sisters in the truck now, Ren and Nora as well." Jaune clicked the push to talk button again.

"Dad I've got two friends here as well that have their own cars but we need to get to them." There was a pause before his dad responded again.

"Alright fine, tell everyone that I'm dropping off to get in the back of the truck, I'll get them where they need to be." Jaune nodded before tapping handing the walkie talkie back to Qrow but he shook his head.

"Keep it kid I've got plenty. Ruby, get your butt inside!" He shouted before moving back to his car, the younger girl following him. Jaune turned to the rest of the group and pointed at the truck. His sisters along with Nora and Ren were piling into the truck.

"Everyone hop into the back, Coco, Sun my dad is going to drop you off at your cars. Remember once he stops get in them fast and be ready to move." Jaune said before turning to Pyrrha.

"Jaune maybe I should ride with you." Jaune shook his head.

"No, it's too dangerous for you besides I need you to guide Sun and Coco to my house since they don't know where I live, alright?" Pyrrha looked hesitant but nodded after a few seconds.

"How many I going to communicate with them?" She asked.

"You still have your phone, don't you? You can call or just give them the address." Pyrrha nodded before turning to Coco and Sun.

The rifle fired ebbed away before going silent. Alexander walked around holding a rifle in his hands, though Jaune could see the relieved look in his eyes at seeing him. He looked at everyone in the back.

"Alright where do I need to go?" Jaune watched as Coco and Sun talked with his father, Jaune stepped away to get to his bike, sliding his visor back down.

"Jaune, wait." His father called out, Jaune turned and his father stepped closer. Jaune was surprised to see that blood covered his father's hands and arms. He reached down to his waist and unhooked something before handing it to Jaune. It was a black handle knife, pulling it out of the sheath; he saw that it was a straight edge Ka-Bar knife.

"You're gonna need something more manageable on that bike of yours instead of a bat." Alexander with a small smile looking down at the bat in Jaune's other hand. Jaune nodded his head his father frowned before wrapping his arms around Jaune bringing him into a hug.

"Be safe Jaune." Jaune patted his dad's back.

"I will dad, I'll see you soon." Alexander nodded and turned away to jog back to the truck. Jaune tucked the knife into the waist of his pants, tossing aside the bat before looking for his bike.

When he reached his bike, he saw that Yang was already sitting on her bike. She was wearing a yellow helmet with a black decal of what looked to be a flaming heart on the right side of her helmet.

"You ready have some fun, riding partner?" Yang asked cheerily, Jaune simply shook his head.

"If it this was just riding around with no purpose except for the pure fun of riding, sure. At this very moment, I wouldn't say that so much." Yang simply shook her head with an amused smile before it died away as voice blared out from Jaune's pocket. It was the walkie talkie that Yang's uncle gave him.

"Jaune, it's me Coco your dad gave us walkie talkies, I've made it to my car with Pyrrha and Velvet." Before Jaune could say anything, Sun's voice came over the line.

"Same here, me, Blake, Neptune and Weiss are ready to go." Jaune pulled the walkie talkie out of his pocket.

"Alright then, Yang and I will meet you at my place follow my dad's truck or Yang and Ruby's uncle. Also Pyrrha can tell you where I live so if we get separated by chance so listen to her." Jaune said, releasing his thumb from the push to talk button then tucking it away in his jean's front pocket. Hopping on his bike he started it and looked up to see dozens of more people round the school building heading straight for them.

"We've gotta move!" Jaune shouted Yang backed out from the parking spot with Jaune following suit. Pushing forward he applied the throttle and took off down the road, shifting gears as he picked up speed, with Yang a dozen feet behind him.

Around him he could see more people running into the parking lot to chase them down. He gritted his teeth as he took a tight turn to enter a straightaway to the main street.

He could see a small convoy of vehicles with his dad's red truck leading away followed by a light blue BMW M3 followed a red Jeep Grand Cherokee lastly the black and red Mustang. Jaune slowed down enough to take a tight turn onto the street.

Jaune gritted his teeth as in front of him as far as he could see that there were numerous abandoned cars and those things. Jaune leaned in as he gunned it down the road the wind roaring in his face as he did his best to avoid hitting any of the people running at him along with abandoned cars in the road.

As Jaune passed around an over turned car he hit the brake skidding across the ground, struggling to stay upright as he encountered a trio of burning cars blocking the most direct route back to his house. To his right more cars packed too close for him, Yang pulled up next to him.

"What's a matter?!" She shouted the guttural moans of the things behind them were almost as loud as the four cars in the distance along with sirens even further out. Jaune pointed to the left, where they could see a row of houses blocked off by brick walls on the right side with stores and apartments on the left.

"We have to head down and make the first right we can then we're on the home stretch!" Jaune shouted Yang nodded as Jaune pushed forward, applying the throttle. Yang following again as a red truck rounded the corner tires squealing, Jaune could see in his side mirror, two people getting smashed aside by the truck.

Jaune looked ahead, turning the first right he saw and took off into the residential section. Looking left and right he could see smashed windows, doors and bodies. He focused on the road, turning left instead of going to his house; he wanted to go to Ren's house. Yang was still following him as he finally slowed down in front of Ren's place and pulled out his walkie talkie.

"Dad." A few seconds passed by.

"Jaune? Where are you?" Alexander's voice came through, he ignored the question.

"Dad, can you give Ren the walkie talkie, I need to talk with him." Again he waited a few moments until Ren's voice came through.

"What's up Jaune?"

"Ren, do you know if you're mom's home? I'm outside your house at the moment." There was a pause then Ren replied.

"Yes, she didn't have work today."

"Alright I'm going to get her then." Jaune said as he turned off his bike, he hopped off his bike and walked towards the house, pulling his helmet off. Yang turned off her bike, following Jaune up the yard as well.

"Jaune? Where are we?" She asked as she pulled off her helmet, fluffing her hair with one hand, he pointed at the house.

"This is Ren's place, I'mma get his mom and bring her with us." She nodded as they approached the door but Jaune stopped as he saw that the door was open. He gestured for Yang to slow down as they approached the door slowly. Jaune saw that there was blood smears on the wall to the right and door knob.

He slipped his helmet back on then pulled the knife his father gave him out with his right hand.

"Yang, stay here." Jaune whispered as he pushed the door open slowly.

"What? Why? I can help you." Jaune shook his head.

"You don't have a weapon, so it would be better if you stayed out here, let me know if you see any more of those…things." Yang shot Jaune a disgusted look at that.

"They're not things Jaune, messed up sure but still people." Jaune was glad he put his helmet back on otherwise he wasn't sure how she would react to his face when she said that.

"Just stay here, will you?" She sighed.

"Fine but I'm not a kid Jaune, let me help next time." He didn't say anything as he pushed past the door. The lights were off inside, nor could he really smell anything with the helmet on. Maybe the helmet wasn't that great of an idea.

"An?" Jaune called out; there was a bump in the hallway further down to his left. He entered the living room to see that it was demolished, furniture torn up and destroyed. Holes in the wall and the door to the garage broken in, Jaune frowned.

"An!" Jaune called out again but this time there was nothing. He decided to head into the hallway, checking inside the rooms, again destroyed but Jaune got the feeling that it wasn't torn up in panic but someone looking for something. He decided to head straight towards An and Li's room, he stopped outside of it.

The door was slightly ajar and Jaune could see that the door knob was broken. Someone had kicked it inwards. He could feel sweat beading his face as he opened the door. The master bedroom was like the others, clothes strewn all over the place, drawers overturned and the full length mirror to the side was smashed.

Jaune's heart broke as he saw the naked form of An Ren on the bed. Her arms and legs were tied to the corners of the bed frame. Jaune stepped closer, he could see whitish gray liquid dotting her body, looking up he could see the red line across her neck. Jaune felt sick to his stomach again, stepping back he tripped on a drawer and crashed into a dresser.

"Jaune!?" Yang's voice called out, he could hear her walking down the hallway. He needed to stop her but his voice failed to respond.

"Jaune?" Yang asked again, appearing at the doorway. Jaune pushed himself to his feet and walked towards her.

"Oh my god." She whispered clearly horrified, her voice cracking at what she saw. While she wasn't particularly close to Nora and the Ren Family but she was dismayed to see this done to another human. Jaune wrapped his arms around Yang, leading her away from the bedroom.

"What kind of sick fucker would do that sort of thing?" Yang cried out as they reached the living room.

"The human kind." Jaune said sadly, looking at the destroyed living room. It wasn't even a week since he was last here laughing, eating and having a good time. Now those memories were tainted by the image of An Ren's assaulted and dead body.

"Oh god, Ren…" Yang said as she leaned against wall, Jaune sighed.

"I'll tell him." Yang looked at Jaune, he couldn't see her face in great detail but he had a feeling that it was a look of shock.

"You sure?" Jaune nodded.

"It's best to tell him now then lie to him that we didn't find her here causing him to have the false hope of seeing her again or something." Jaune said, walking towards the front door with Yang behind him.

They exited the house; Jaune looked up at the sky. Clouds had started to form with splotches of smoke rising into the sky. Jaune shook his head as he made his way back to the street, looking up and down the street for any signs of the people who had attacked An. There was no one, not a single sign of life in the neighborhood.

"Let's get out of here." Jaune said turning to face Yang, who surprisingly enough was already looking at him. She looked like she wanted to say something but instead turned to get on her bike; Jaune got onto his and started it up.

Jaune turned around and took off down the street with Yang following him again. He didn't speed like before, opting instead to take it slow in first gear in order to keep a better eye on the surrounding area. After several minutes he made the turn onto his street, in the distance he could see cars parked outside his house.

Releasing the throttle he cruised up to the sidewalk, once more switching the engine off and pulling his keys out. Stepping off, he put the kickstand down before taking off his helmet. Looking again up and down the street he didn't see any signs of life which was surprising. He would have expected to see something wandering around due to the noise they had made traveling here.

"Something a matter?" Yang asked as she got off her bike behind his, taking off her helmet and proceeding to fluff her giant mane of hair.

"Ah, it's nothing just thinking really." Yang shrugged and started to walk up the driveway, Jaune pulled out the walkie talkie.

"It's me, Yang and I are outside, doesn't seem to be anyone nearby, so uh, don't shoot us or anything." Yang snickered as he tucked the walkie talkie away again and pinpointed his house key to open the front door when it flung open. Nora was standing on the other side, a serious look on her face.

"Where is she?" She asked and Jaune felt his stomach drop, he swallowed exchanging a look with Yang.

"Get Ren, we need to talk, I'll be in my room. You know where it is." Jaune said as he stepped into the house. Helena, Claire and Miriya came running, the three girls practically tackling him.

"Jaune you're safe." Miriya said as she held onto his arm.

"We saw you speeding around those people and cars it was scary, please never do that again." Claire said.

"Alright girls I need to take care of some stuff." The three of them let go of him and turned to Yang, dragging her with them. She looked back at Jaune for help but he simply shrugged, they were just gonna show her around the house, probably.

As Jaune passed the living room he could see that Sun, Blake, Weiss, Ruby and the others were sitting on the couches watching the television. It was a new broadcast of what looked to be Downtown Vale. The reporter was talking about Police using lethal force as they clashed with what they assumed were rioters and anarchists. He noticed that Pyrrha wasn't amongst the others in the living room.

Jaune simply shook his head; he needed to lie down in order to gather himself to deal with Ren and Nora. As he reached the second floor he began to unlatch his chest gear. He didn't realize how much he sweated as it separate his torso and cool air enveloped his shirt. He sighed, he was gonna need to get a change of clothes now as well.

He reached his room and opened the door. What he didn't expect to see was Pyrrha rolling around in his bed with the bed sheets wrapped around her.

"Uh…" Pyrrha stopped and started to get up but the sheets were wrapped around her that she ended up falling off his bed.

Jaune just sighed as he ignored Pyrrha struggling with the sheets and proceeded to set his gear on his desk. Then went over to his closet and started to look for a change of clothes, Pyrrha must have finally gotten herself straighten out as he heard her get to her feet and take a deep breath as if to calm herself.

"Should have knocked Jaune, you surprised me." Jaune turned his head with utter confusion on his face; Pyrrha was looking down her hands behind her back. He could see her face was lightly red from embarrassment, which was understandable to a certain extent.

"Why would I need to knock? This is my room." Pyrrha opened and closed her mouth a few times.

"Uh…What if I was changing clothes." Jaune shook his head as he picked up a black three quarter sleeve shirt.

"But you weren't changing; you were rolling around on my bed." Jaune deadpanned. He turned around and could see that she was looking away now, face red from their conversation.

"So what took you guys so long to get here? You were ahead of us then you went off somewhere and only now came back." Pyrrha asked changing the subject. She watched Jaune's back stiffen slightly at the question.

"I just had to go check something." He said simply, he wasn't sure if he should tell Pyrrha this since she also met An. However he decided not to, at least not yet he wanted to tell it to the two people who would be effected by it most first.

"Jaune?" Pyrrha asked again, he shook his head as he realized he had spaced out.

"I'm just going to need a few moments; you know to think about some stuff." He heard Pyrrha step closer.

"If you want Jaune, you can tell me. I'm your friend aren't I?" For some reason Jaune felt that there was more to that statement then was said but he wasn't really sure.

"Of course you are Pyrrha; I value you, your opinion, and our entire friendship. With that being said this, well this is something I need to think on my own." Had Jaune been looking at Pyrrha at that moment he would have seen the conflicting emotions across her face at what he said.

"I understand." She said simply, her voice quieter than before.

"Thank you." Jaune heard her leave and turned around. He headed towards the vent in the wall that he kept his handgun. Pulling the metal box, Jaune swore that the box was heavier than the last time he had held it.

He looked back at his door, it was closed. Walking over to his desk, he unlocked it and pulled the Glock 19 out. He set it on his desk looking at it; he closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair. After everything that happened today, he knew that it was time to use it but he didn't want to.

The image of the girl's jaw giving way popped into his mind and he flinched. It was quickly followed by watching Coach Elba get attacked by the stranger. Lastly the naked, assaulted dead body of An Ren appeared in his mind. He took a deep breath; he didn't have a choice in this matter it seemed.

Leaning forward he unboxed the nine millimeter rounds, as he reached for the six empty magazines in the box and started to load them.

 **Ten Minutes Later…**

* * *

There was a knock at his door and Jaune tucked the Glock into his desk drawer and tossing the shoulder rig along with the empty ammunition boxes under his bed.

"Come in!" Jaune called out, the door opened to reveal Nora and Ren. They entered, Ren closing the door behind him. He nodded at Jaune, which he returned.

"Where's my mother Jaune." Ren said bluntly and Jaune winced. He knew that it would be difficult but he wasn't ready to jump right into it, he stood up.

"Ren, I'm going to need you to sit down, you too Nora." The two teens exchanged looks with each other before doing as Jaune told him. He walked to his window, looking out to observe the neighborhood. There still was no activity in the area but Jaune could see more smoke billowing into the skies in the horizon along with a few dozen helicopters.

"Ren, Yang and I went to your house." Jaune paused; he really didn't want to go any farther. The thought of what he was going to say tore at him. However withholding the truth hurt even more, he took a shaky breath before exhaling.

"Ren, we entered your house to find that someone had ransacked it." Jaune turned around to look at his friend.

He could see the confusion and worry in his magenta eye friend. Looking next to him Nora's aqua colored eyes however had an inkling of what may be going on. A level of hurt that Jaune had never felt or seen in his friend stared back.

"We found your mom in the master bedroom…assaulted…and dead." Ren and Nora stared at Jaune. Once again he could feel a bead of sweat drip down the back of his neck. He covered his eyes, taking a dead breath.

"I'm sorry." Ren stood up abruptly; Jaune took a step back as the magenta eyed teen closed on him. Jaune closed his eyes, gritting his teeth half expecting Ren to punch him in the face. Instead he felt Ren wrap his arms around him, followed by another pair of arms. Opening his eyes he saw Nora and Ren were hugging him.

"It's okay Jaune; you don't need to say sorry. It's not your fault." Nora said, her voice slightly muffled by being buried into his side.

"I know but."

"No. Jaune trust me you're like, no, you are my brother and I know you would have done everything in your power to protect her." Jaune wasn't sure what to say, he could feel a stinging sensation behind his eyes, blinking he kept it back.

"I'll leave you guys alone for now. You know to clear your heads out before coming downstairs." Jaune said as they broke the embrace. He walked towards his door and stopped to turn around to face Ren.

"Ren I just want to let you know you're also my brother and I'll die before letting you get hurt. The same to you Nora, you're like another sister to me." Nora grinned.

"Though we both know that you don't need another sister, you're parents are doing a fine job on that end." Jaune smiled before leaving his room, making sure to close the door behind him.

What he didn't expect to see was his father standing before him with his arms cross. He still wore the gear he had on earlier save for the rifle. Though Jaune noted that he had taken the time to clean the blood off his hands and forearm.

"Jaune we need to talk." Alexander said, Jaune sighed.

"Can we not?" Alexander just gave Jaune a blank look, Jaune nodded.

"Alright fine, but can we do it elsewhere? I had to break some bad news to Ren and Nora." This time Alexander looked puzzled.

"What news?" Jaune looked down at his shoes.

"When I went to Ren's place, someone had broken in ransacking the place and attacking An, I found her dead in the master bedroom." Jaune looked up to see sympathy in his father's eyes; he placed a hand on his shoulder.

"That's a very difficult thing to handle Jaune but I'm glad you told them, I'm proud of you son." Jaune nodded with a weak smile.

"I don't feel proud." Alexander bobbed his head slowly.

"It's not going to be easier but let's head down to the kitchen to talk about what's next." Jaune followed him downstairs to see that Pyrrha, Yang, his sisters and everyone else were in the living room still watching the live panel discussing what is happening to Vale.

Jaune saw Yang and Pyrrha were giving him a look as he passed by following his father into the kitchen. There Yang and Ruby's uncle, Qrow Branwen sat at a chair sipping water from a glass cup.

"What's up?" Jaune asked as Alexander took out a glass from a nearby cabinet and filled it with water.

"Jaune, I'm leaving." Jaune blinked.

"What?" Alexander turned to face him, his face grim but determined.

"I need to find your mother and Nessa, your mother hasn't responded to my calls or messages. So I'm heading out to find them." Jaune nodded slowly before responding.

"Alright when are we going?" Alexander frowned in confusion.

"We?" Jaune nodded.

"Yea, we, as in you and I. We'll take your truck and find them together." Alexander shook his head.

"No, I'm not going to do that to you. I'll be taking Qrow with me, what I brought you down here to discuss really is what I do want you to do." He pointed to the living room where the others were sitting oblivious to their conversation.

"Jaune, trust me, I understand the dangers out there but I need you to hold down the fort here alright? Look after your sisters and keep your friends safe. We should be back in a couple of hours; I'll call to let you know when we've got your mother and sister. So stay safe." Alexander said, Qrow stood up and walked out of the room, Alexander set his cup aside.

"Another thing Jaune, I've brought some basic supplies from the store, most of it is emergency food and water, so no need to touch it yet. There's also camping gear which we won't need for now as well. However there are manuals and guides in there that can teach you a number of things that you might need to know especially when I'm not around to help you like now." He lowered his voice and stepped closer to Jaune.

"I'm leaving you in charge of the group while we're gone Jaune. Keep them safe both from themselves and the outside. Also start packing up supplies that we might need because once we're back we're going to be leaving Vale." Jaune frowned.

"Leaving? Where are we going?" Alexander scratched his cheek.

"I don't want to stay here any longer then I have too, far too many people to deal with. If we get attacked by the same number of people we saw on the way here we would have a hard time defending ourselves. Not only that considering what happened to An it means that there are people out there willing to take advantage of the chaos to harm others. So we head either east or south where there's still smaller towns and villages but with wide open ground to put a lot of distance between us and anyone that might kill us."

"What about going north? We can try to get to Atlas." Alexander shook his head.

"No, Atlas is probably started shutting down its borders the moment they got word that Vale is collapsing like Vacuo. Even then from what we've seen on the news heading north would mean getting caught in clashes the Vale Police and National Guard are having with these people or things. So it'd be far too dangerous to head that direction for now." He put his hands on Jaune's shoulders.

"Jaune I trust you and know you'll do the best you can to keep them safe and do what's right." Jaune didn't say anything as Alexander let go, going over to the island and picking up his rifle. Jaune followed him as he headed towards the front door. His sisters jumped up from their seats to see that he was leaving again.

"Dad! No!" Miriya cried out as the three girls went to him, grabbing his arms to try and keep him back. Jaune stepped forward and pulled them away.

"Jaune!? Why aren't you stopping him!?" Helena turned to face him; outrage clearly on her face, Jaune shook his head.

"Dad's going to go get Mom and Nessa. He's got Mr. Branwen to accompany him." The dark hair man turned to Jaune.

"You can just call me Qrow kid; Mr. Branwen makes me feel old." Yang stepped forward with her hands on her hips.

"That's because you are old and did you really think you can leave without telling me and Ruby?" Said girl was looking from the couch looking like a lost puppy.

"Come on, it's not like I've left without saying goodbye before." Yang narrowed her eyes.

"Yea but we knew that you'd come back alive." Qrow shook his head.

"No, you assumed I would and so did I to be fair. I'm a police officer Yang, death and injury is in the job description. Not everyone makes it back alive." Yang shook her head and turned away. Ruby in turn left the couch and ran to Qrow, wrapping her arms around him.

"Please come back." She said Qrow nodded.

"I'll try." He said as Ruby let him go. Jaune stood next to the younger girl and his sisters watching from the door as the two men got into the red truck and start it up. As the truck drove away, the pops and cracks of gunfire could be heard; Jaune couldn't help but think that the city was tearing itself apart.

He closed the door, and turned to see that his sisters were heading upstairs. Ruby however stood in front of him, he could see that the girl was trying hard to keep her emotions in control. He put a hand on her shoulder.

"Are you going to be alright?" Ruby nodded before rubbing her eyes roughly.

"Yea, I still have Yang. Though I wish my dad was here also." Jaune nodded in understanding.

"I wouldn't be surprised if Taiyang was just sitting by the front door of his gym bashing the head of anyone crazy enough to cause trouble." Jaune said with a slight grin, Ruby looked at him in surprise.

"How do you know my dad's name?" Jaune tilted his head a little confused.

"Didn't Yang tell you? Your dad gave me boxing lessons." Ruby seemed to smile at that.

"Now you know where Yang gets all her bad jokes." Yang's head appeared from behind a couch, her face marked with affront.

"Hey! That's not fair!" Jaune grinned.

"She's right Ruby, that isn't fair. Taiyang is a dad, so they make bad jokes on purpose. Yang just has bad jokes." This brought a burst of laughter from not only Ruby but Sun, Neptune and Coco as well.

"So why did they leave?" Weiss's cold voice cut through the laughter. Looks of curiosity turned to Jaune, and he cursed himself.

"They went to go look for my mom and youngest sister."

"But why did both of them go?" Jaune stepped forward into the living room, making his way to one of the couches, sitting next to Pyrrha.

"Well it's best to move with a trusted partner that way they can watch each other's backs."

"But if they didn't leave they wouldn't have to watch each other's backs." Coco looked at Weiss.

"What are you trying to say?" Weiss rolled her eyes and spoke slowly as if she was talking to children.

"If they thought about it rationally seeing that they didn't need to go out, they wouldn't be in danger." The mood of the room soured and everyone looked towards Jaune expecting him to be angry but he wasn't, he just sat there with a bored expression on his face. Yang on the other hand was debating what might happen if she chucked Weiss out the window. Jaune clapped together his hands and stood up.

"Well I think I'll see what we have to make for dinner." Everyone just watched Jaune leave the living room and head into the kitchen. As soon as he was gone they looked towards Weiss who recoiled slightly at the annoyed glares she was receiving.

"What?" She asked Coco crossed her arms.

"Your being a real bitch right now you know that?" Weiss looked at Coco in shock.

"What?! I'm not a bitch Coco Adel, what right do you have to talk to me like that?" Coco look like she was going to say something else but Velvet put a hand on her arm. Coco leaned back and said nothing.

"Weiss you did kind of imply that Jaune's father was wasting his time to look for his wife, Jaune's mother if you miraculously seem to have forgotten and his youngest sister. That's kind of a bitch thing to say." Yang said with her arms crossed.

"Not only that you implied that my uncle was an idiot in helping his friend look for his family, which I also think is a bitch thing to say." Weiss looked around and could see that no one was going to come to her side. She looked at Neptune, her boyfriend for support but the blue hair teen didn't look at her. Instead he opted to keep his eyes on the floor.

"Wow, this is just like before. I turn him down time and time again and I get made out to be the bad guy. Not him for pestering me time and time again despite me saying I have zero interest and learning to take no as an answer. Now when I'm trying to be the reasonable once again while he's doing something stupid I'm in the wrong, it's completely unfair." She said as she stood up looking everyone in the face. She walked past everyone and went up the stairs to the second floor.

On the way down the steps were Ren and Nora. Both had somber faces on, Yang remembered that they had gone up to talk to Jaune about Ren's mother. Nora caught her looking, the two girls nodding towards each other as the two teens headed into the kitchen, Pyrrha stood up to follow them. Yang sighed as she took a seat on one of the couches.

"Man this are getting fucking crazy." Sun said as he rubbed his face with one hand, Blake nodded as well.

"To think that earlier today we were laughing and enjoying school, we're now in a house after escaping the fall of our school and watching society crumble around us on a television set." Yang looked at Blake.

"Jeez Blakey can you be any more depressing?" Sun leaned forward with a smile.

"Don't tempt her." He said before yelping as Blake drove her elbow into his side, Neptune and Coco laughed at his distress.

"She's not wrong." Velvet said as she watched the television.

"No one heard or reported anything like they did with Vacuo so really the only big difference I can see is that we didn't know anything until it was already in full swing." Yang nodded slowly and looked to her right to see Ruby stand up and head towards the kitchen. The sound of a knife on a cutting board and laughter could be heard coming from the kitchen. Jaune's sisters thumped down the steps, chatting excitedly amongst themselves about something.

So Yang decided to get up and check out what was going on. As she entered the kitchen she was surprised to see that everyone save Pyrrha was sitting down watching Jaune cook. To her left Jaune was mincing parsley with a large pot of water that was beginning to boil. Pyrrha was slicing a trio of large baguette loafs.

"Jaune you can cook?" Yang asked as she pulled up a seat next to Ruby. Jaune set aside his knife and turned holding a plate of minced garlic with a plate of minced parsley. He took a small basting brush and used it to mix a small bowl of melted butter, where he added the minced garlic and a table spoon of parsley.

After mixing it together he brushed the cut sides of the bread with the mixture. Pyrrha took them and set them across a cooking trays lined with aluminum foil. She picked up the trays and turned to her right were Jaune was standing next to an oven. Jaune opened the oven door for Pyrrha the slide the trays in and closed it, setting the time. He turned to Yang and smiled brightly.

"Yup, I always enjoyed cooking and considering what happened today, I figured why not? It would be nice to give it a go again for this many people." Setting the plates aside, he turned back towards a large refrigerator and opened it, after a few moments of rummaging around he pulled out a large package of ground beef, two eggs, ricotta, and Pecorino cheese.

"Pyrrha, there's a box of bread crumbs in the cabinet to my right, mind getting them out for me?" Pyrrha flashed a smile but Jaune was facing away from her.

"Sure Jaune." She said as she stepped to his right and opened a cabinet, after a few moments she pulled out a brown box.

"Is this what you were looking for?" She asked, Jaune looked over at her and smiled.

"Yup, that's it. Thank you Pyrrha, you know you don't have to help me cook. You're a guest in the house, you should be relaxing." Pyrrha waved her hand dismissively.

"Nonsense Jaune, what kind of friend would I be if I let you do everything for me?" Jaune chuckled as he turned his attention back to the food. He grabbed a towel hanging off a peg in front of him, to wipe his hands.

Turning to the boiling water, he pulled out four large packets of spaghetti and poured them in. Afterwards he grabbed a salt grinder and gave it two full turns into the water before setting it aside then reached for a medium size saucepan. Setting it on another stove top he crouched down to open another cabinet and pulled out three jars of marinara sauce.

Opening them he poured them in, quickly before setting the now mostly empty jars aside he turned on stove on at a high burn. Turning his attention back to the ground beef, he opened the package and poured it into a large blue mixing bowl. It was quickly followed by two eggs, a large portion of the minced parsley, a quarter cup or ricotta and two table spoons of shredded Pecorino.

The assembled teens watched as Jaune quickly mixed the contents of the bowl, before proceeding to take chunks of it out to roll in the palms of his hands. After which he set aside on another plate for later. After finishing that he leaned down to bring out another large sized pan which he set on the stove, and quickly added olive oil on it.

With one hand he reached up to the cabinet above him and started to bring down garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper and dried basil. Opening and pour a seemingly measured amount of each item into the red sauce while using his left hand to pick up the pan and roll the oil around in it to coat it evenly.

Setting the pan down and turn the heat for the sauce down as well, Jaune turned his attention to the pasta and stirred it with a forked pasta server. Finally he turned to the raw meatballs and picked them up with a tong, and started to place them onto the pan.

The moment the first meatball hit the hot pan a sizzle could be heard followed by the smell of cooking meat. Pyrrha took a deep breath as the smell made her stomach grumble, she froze as she looked around to see the grinning faces of Nora, Ruby and Yang staring at her. It only lasted for a few moments as the teens at the island counter laughed, even Ren who cracked a little smile.

"Man, what smells so good?" Sun asked as he, Blake, Coco, Velvet and Neptune walked in.

"Jaune's making food!" Ruby said.

"Wow Arc, you cook as well?" Coco asked as she carried a chair over and sat with them.

"Yup, Jaune's a pretty good cook. He normally cooks whenever mom and dad were too busy." Helena said from the other end, Miriya nodded.

"God he was a lot better than Katherine at the age of twelve than she was at eighteen. I still have nightmares about her scrambled eggs." Helena made a face at that.

"She somehow managed to get more egg shell than actual egg into that mess she called breakfast." Claire leaned in to look at Pyrrha and the others.

"Katherine is the oldest of all of us, she's a pretty smart person but she couldn't cook a pack of instant ramen if her life depended on it." Everyone laughed at the table when Nora snapped her fingers.

"Who was it that made that really yummy cake on Ren's birthday a few years ago?" Ren spoke up.

"I'm pretty sure that was Mina, she is the only one that I could think of that makes better dessert than Jaune aside from high tier restaurants and bakeries." Jaune turned with a hurt look on his face.

"Ren, I thought you liked that cake I made for you a few years ago." Ren held his hand out flat and shook it a little. Everyone laughed at that, before long Jaune was mixing the spaghetti, sauce and meatballs together.

Putting on some oven mitts he walked to the oven and opened it to pull out the tray of garlic bread. He pulled out fifteen plates and began to label two scoops of pasta on each one, then he cut up the garlic bread and set a piece on each plate before getting the remaining Pecorino to sprinkle on top of the hot pasta with an added dash of parsley.

"Wow Jaune this looks amazing." Pyrrha said picking up a plate as Jaune stepped away to wash his hands in the sink.

"Ah it's nothing that special; it was just the first meal I could think of that could be able to feed everyone here." Jaune noticed that there was still a plate besides his on the counter and realized that Weiss hadn't joined them. Neptune must have realized this as well as he took his plate in one hand and picked up her plate with his other.

"Sorry about that Jaune, I'll take it to her and see if I can get her to come downstairs." Jaune simply nodded as he grabbed his plate and saw Pyrrha waving him over, an empty seat next to her. Jaune sat down flashing a smile at Pyrrha and the two of them tucked into their meal.

"Not only are you good looking, you know how to fight, have a good sense of justice, but you cook really good food Jaune. My god how do you not have a girlfriend?" Coco said as she swallowed a mouthful of pasta, Jaune just shrugged.

"I did try that but as you can see it didn't turn out well." Coco chuckled at that before turning back to her food. The teens laughed and talked amongst themselves the events of the day fading with the companionship they gave each other. The horror and stress they all face soon fading into joy and relief.

 **An Hour Later…**

* * *

Qrow slammed the door of the faculty office shut, reaching over for a chair to wedge under the door handle. A few seconds later multiple bodies slammed against it but weren't able to bust open the door. The sounds of fists beating against the door increased along with the guttural moans of those things were outside.

Qrow brought his shotgun up, put a shell into the chamber and ran the action forward before putting in the rest of his shells.

"I'm sorry baby girl, I'm so sorry." The choked voice of a broken man came behind him. He turned to see Alexander sitting on the tiled floor of the faculty room, cradling Arabella in his arms.

They had come into the elementary school expecting to find trouble but they had gotten much more than they had asked for. The young ones had been turned; Qrow had frozen up at seeing the once human children covered in blood and torn flesh charging them.

Alexander took action firing his Stag rifle on full auto into the crowd of children charging them. Though Qrow could see that even he was torn up doing this, after dealing with them, Alexander had said it was best if they split up to look for his wife and youngest child.

Qrow had gone out to the back of the school to see dozens of former children wandering aimlessly around the playground and fields. Whole hallways covered in blood indicating where the kids had been ambushed early.

It wasn't until about ten minutes later Alexander called for Qrow to come to the faculty room as fast as he could. The sound of gun fire echoing through the halls prompted Qrow to run as hard as he could. Unfortunately he nearly ran into a group of turned children, fortunately or unfortunately depending on whom you ask Qrow was able to defend himself against the things.

Each blast of the Mossberg sent one or two children down at a time, ragged holes into their tiny frames. Qrow had to blink fast to keep the stinging sensation in his eyes from blinding him as he made his way around the school.

After running and gunning down the children he had finally made it to the faculty staff room. Now he was looking at dead body of Arabella lying in the lap of Alexander. His rifle was on the floor; however his Sig Sauer was in his hand.

"Alex?" Qrow asked, stepping closer to the crying man.

"I had to Qrow, she begged me to do it." Alexander choked out as he pressed his forehead against Arabella's forehead. Qrow could see a bite mark on her calf, he knew what that meant.

"She told me that she had tried getting Nessa out but the school was already teeming with them so she decided to hide here knowing I would come to get her. But Nessa hadn't told her something vital, so the next thing she before she knew it our own child had turned on her. She locked herself in one of the bathrooms while Nessa was in here. When the coast was clear she opened the door and asked me to kill her, I didn't want to but she made me promise to end it before it was too late." Alexander said leaning back up, tears streaming down his face as he recounted the story, blood marking his forehead now. Qrow could now see the hole in Arabella's forehead from where he had shot her. However something was odd about that story.

"Now I need you to keep your promise to me Qrow." Alexander said, Qrow looked puzzled than remember what Alexander said to him in the shop earlier that day.

"What?" He whispered hoarsely, Alexander held up his left hand, blood oozed out of teeth marks on his left hand.

"It looks like this is the end of the line for me." Qrow walked forward and sat down next to Alexander.

"Holy shit dude." Alexander nodded slowly.

"Holy shit indeed." They sat there for what seemed like forever, the steady beating at the door slowly started to ebb away.

"Qrow, I think it's time for you to get out of here." Alexander said as he lifted Arabella's body up with him. Moving to a table he set her on it, and began to undo his chest rig, setting it on the table.

"Want me to take this stuff?" Qrow asked looking at the Stag Rifle.

"You can take the rifle, there's more ammunition for it in the bags we brought from the store. Here you might want to put a fresh magazine in that." Alexander said, pulling out a magazine from a pouch on the chest rig.

"Also you'll need these unless you wanna walk back." Alexander said as he dug his keys from his pants along with the walkie talkie he had been carrying with him. Qrow sorted all the items and look up at his old friend.

"Are you going to keep that?" Qrow said pointing at the Sig Sauer on the table, Alexander nodded.

"Well it looks like this is it Qrow." Alexander said reaching out with his right hand, Qrow gripped it and shook it.

"It's been an honor Alexander." The man smiled slightly, Qrow let go and headed towards the back of the room. There were a few windows there, he opened one, and peered outside making sure the coast was clear.

Looking back inside he could see Alexander sitting in a chair looking at the body of his wife, in the corner of his eye he noticed a bloodied white sheet laying on top of a small figure. Qrow felt a lump in his throat as he realized who it was and climbed out the window.

The cool air nipped at his skin, the slight trace of smoke filled the air as Qrow took a deep breath. Looking around he couldn't see any sign of movement and slowly made his way off the grounds. He was holding the Mossberg in his hands while the Stag rifle was hanging on its strap around his torso.

As Qrow reached the sidewalk where they had parked the truck there was a single gunshot that rung out from behind him. Qrow cleared the surrounding area and unlocked the car, hopping into the driver seat and closed the door. He sat in the driver seat and closed his eyes.

 **Meanwhile…**

* * *

Jaune stood at the sink with Pyrrha next to him washing dishes. It was always the most tedious part of cooking, the clean up after the fun. However his mother always told him that she always had a satisfying feeling when she did this.

To be able to make people happy with food and know that these dishes she washed were the tools that helped her. It was something that Jaune always associated with her, the ability to bring a smile out with her warmth. Not just from cooking but her presence as well.

"Jaune?" Pyrrha asked softly as she dried a plate and set it on a tray to her right.

"Yea Pyr?" She seemed to pause when he said that but recovered quickly. She looked behind her before continuing.

"Do you really think things are going to be okay?" Jaune hummed a little.

"Maybe, I'm not sure really but my dad told me before he left that we would all leave Vale. Even if things do ultimately go back to normal, it'll be a violent time before that happens." Jaune had no doubt about that last part especially after what happened with An Ren.

"For what it's worth Jaune, I-I'll be by your side throughout the entire way." Pyrrha said before looking at him with a bright smile. Jaune smiled back genuinely, though a part of him inside knew that despite that smile Pyrrha was scared. He couldn't blame her though; he was utterly terrified as well.

The flash of him bashing the girl's face with the bat flashed in his mind, followed by Yatsuhashi getting stabbed by Cardin and the dead violated body of An.

"Hey, you think Cardin is still tied up?" Jaune asked looking at Pyrrha, the girl's face darkened for a moment.

"I hope so, such a vile excuse for a human being." Jaune could see her hands tighten around a glass cup so hard that he legitimately thought she might break it. He shook his hands quickly before reaching out, grabbing her hand with his right while prying the innocent glass cup away.

He noticed how soft her hands were, which was surprising because of how hard he's seen her working at the gym. So he expected to feel callouses, but instead all he felt was soft skin. He realized that he was still holding her hand, not only that feeling it softly.

Jaune looked up at Pyrrha and saw that she was staring at him. Though he didn't see any discomfort or disgust in her eyes, her vivid green eyes that reminded him of a forest, he'd visit with his family.

Someone cleared their throat behind them and the two teens turned to see Yang standing there. However Jaune was surprised to see that she didn't looked amused at all, if anything she looked annoyed. Though he could be wrong as the power shut down at that moment, a chorus of questions filtered out from the living room.

Jaune however didn't pay any attention to them as he focused on the sounds of Vale burning as it tore itself apart.

* * *

 **Well isn't that something.**

 **Anyways thank you everyone who commented on the first chapter. I appreciate the enthusiasm that you all had for it.**

 **Now I've got a question, no one is obligated to answer but I wanted to hear what are your thoughts on the RWBY Characters, do you like how I am depicting them or is there something left to be desired?**

 **The other side of that question is who is your favorite and least favorite character, it can be from Canon, my stories or just the general depiction that's done for that character in the Fandom.**

 **Moving on from that I'll still continue to update the Chapter progress for this and The Lost Sons on my profile. I also figured I'll probably alternate working on the stories so don't expect the next Chapter to be started until I finish the current chapter for the The Lost Sons.**

 **Anyways besides that feel free to leave a comment, review or really anything you want. I'm generally accepting of what most people have to say, whether it's good or bad, I wanna know.**

 **Till Next time...**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The cool air of night nipped at Jaune's body as he stepped from his front yard to the street. In the distance, sirens and the occasional pop of gunfire could be heard.

Looking towards downtown lay he could see the glow of what were probably multiple unchecked fires.

Taking a deep breath he could detect the faint aroma of smoke. Turning around he looked over his house, not a single ray of light could be seen inside, and he had unscrewed the front porch light on his way out.

Along with keeping the entranceway light off, Ren held the door open with a bat in hand watching the street for any sign of trouble.

Nodding to himself, Jaune quickly jogged back inside the house, Ren closing and locking the door behind him.

"We're all clear; I didn't see any light from outside." Jaune said as he turned to look at his friend.

"That's good; I've set out some of those extra blankets out in the living room to reinforce any of the windows." Jaune nodded, after the power had returned Ren had come into the kitchen to tell Jaune of an interesting idea.

He thought it would be wise to use any spare blankets they could find to cover the windows. He stated that it would help keep anyone or anything from noticing any lights in the house. Jaune thought it was a wise idea so he had helped him by duct taping blankets on all the windows.

"I think we should also have someone keep watch, just in case." Jaune said as he and Ren both walked into the living room.

"What?" Blake asked as her, Nora, and Sun turned too looked at them.

"I'm saying we should keep an eye out for any trouble that might brew in the neighborhood." Sun stood up to face him.

"What sort of trouble?" Jaune eyed Sun, standing at an even six feet, he was a decent athlete from what Jaune could tell. He heard that he did a lot of parkour on his free time, even having Blake tag along with him sometimes.

Which Jaune found surprising since he reckoned Blake preferred to spend her time drinking tea while reading or something. Ultimately he knew that Sun could be trusted in a physical altercation.

"I honestly can't say for sure what kind of trouble; we might encounter looters or more of those things." Sun nodded, though Jaune could see that he was looking out the corner of his eye towards the window.

"So what do we call them?" Nora asked as Ren made his way over to sit next to her, Jaune shrugged.

"I was thinking zombies." Blake looked up at him.

"We don't even know if they are zombies." Jaune shrugged again.

"I don't know what you wanna call them but from what I can tell, if you get attacked then you turn into them."

"Maybe but that still wouldn't mean that they're zombies, it would mean they're infected." Blake argued.

"Why does it matter what we call them? Zombies, Infected, doesn't matter, they're trying to hurt or kill us." Blake shook her head slowly.

"It's important how we see them Jaune; a zombie is something that was dead and had come back to life. Nothing can be done about that; however an Infected would imply that there's a way to stop it before they turn." Jaune sighed a little.

"But that wouldn't be right either; we don't actually know anything about them. Maybe Zombie is going too far in what they are for now but suggesting calling them Infected on the basis that we might somehow help someone from turning sounds like giving false hope when we have none to give." Blake just rolled her eyes as she stood up to head up the stairs.

Jaune looked towards Sun who just shrugged, with a face that suggested he'd get used to it. Jaune walked around to sit on a couch; it felt nice to just relax after today.

"So, who's taking first watch?" Nora asked, Jaune opened his mouth to answer but Ren beat him to it.

"I'll take the first watch." Jaune blinked as he looked towards his close friend.

"You sure Ren?" The magenta eyed teen nodded, Nora stood up abruptly with her fists clenched on her hips.

"I'll join you! Four eyes are better than two!" Ren and Jaune both laughed softly at her energy. Despite Nora's enthusiasm they both knew she tends to fall asleep easy at night. Jaune heard someone coming down the stairs and looked over his shoulder to see Ruby.

"Hey Rubes."

"Hey Jaune!" She called back; she hopped down onto the couch next to him.

"How'd you like the food?" Jaune asked and she looked at him.

"It was amazing, much better than anything Yang could ever make." She said, shuddering at some ill-founded memory, Jaune chuckled at that and patted the top of her head.

"Thanks Rubes."

"How's your baking?" She asked and Jaune looked at her puzzled.

"I suppose its fine, why?"

"Oh, nothing really, I was just wondering if you could make some chocolate chip cookies." Before Jaune could answer Yang stormed into the room.

"Ruby no." She said bluntly, crossing her arms, her face resolute in this matter. Ruby gripped Jaune's arm causing him to look back at her as she flashed a puppy look at him. Jaune's brother mode kicked in but he forced himself not to give in.

"Jaune, pleeeease." She whimpered and Jaune turned away to look at Yang.

"Ruby no, Jaune's already done enough for us as it is. Don't make him into your personal cook or whatever. Jaune you can just ignore her." Yang said but Jaune stood up.

"Ah, it's fine Yang. Besides I think a fresh cookie with a glass of milk sounds nice right about now, don't you?" Yang looked at Jaune for a moment, she had a strange look on her face but Jaune couldn't make it out what it was. Before he knew it, something tackled him from behind. He looked down to see the tiny arms of Ruby around his torso.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" She was repeating as he pried her killer grip from him. He looked up at Yang but now she was simply grinning.

"I hope you know what you're doing." Jaune shrugged as he finally free himself from Rubys arms.

"If I knew what I was doing half the time, I probably wouldn't do anything." Yang just laughed as she shook her head, the giant mane of hair waving back and forth.

Jaune walked back into the kitchen to see Pyrrha standing at the sink still. He frowned at that, had she just stayed there the entire time, they finished the dishes a while ago. On the far side Coco and Velvet sat at the main table talking quietly. Coco looked up when she saw him enter.

"Hey Chef, what are you up too?" She called out, Velvet and Pyrrha both turned to him. Velvet had a haunted but curious look in her eyes. Jaune wasn't sure what to do with her; she seemed to look more and more haggard every time he saw her.

"Sup Coco. Velvet." He addressed the two of them, Coco grinned while Velvet just nodded in return.

"So what are you two up too?" Jaune asked folding his arms in front of his chest; Coco waved her hand in an ambiguous motion.

"Nothing much really, we're just talking about the day's events." Jaune frowned a little at that.

"Yea, it's been…something, hasn't it?" Coco's grinned faded as well.

"Yup." Jaune looked at Velvet.

"So what did ya'll think of the food? I didn't mess it up did I?" This brought a smile to Coco's face and a brief one on Velvet's.

"It was really good." Velvet said softly, Jaune smiled and nodded.

"Anyways, I'm gonna make some cookies, so if you're still up when I'm done. Feel free to have some." The two girls nodded and Jaune turned away only to turn back again.

"Actually, I have a question." Coco looked at Jaune puzzled.

"What is it?"

"Have you two picked a spot to sleep for the night? I know my sisters share a room together so it might get crowded in there. I've already told Ren that he and Nora could take my room if need be."

"Actually we were wondering if we could stay in the room to the right of your sisters. It's not terrible big but we could make it work." Jaune nodded.

"That's Sepherinas room. She moved out a while ago so it's free for you to use. If you need more blankets and pillows just find me, Ren or Nora. The two of them know my house pretty well so they can help you." Coco and Velvet nodded.

"Thanks Jaune." Velvet said and he nodded in return.

"No problem Velvet." Jaune turned away and headed back towards the kitchen area to begin baking.

 **Three Hours Later…**

* * *

Jaune turned the lights off in the kitchen; he was reluctant at first but decided it would be best to keep them off. As he entered the living room he could see Nora wrapped in a blanket resting her head on Ren's shoulder. The magenta eye teen was still awake watching another News broadcast of the fighting going on in downtown Vale.

"Ren." Jaune said softly, doing his best not to wake up the orange hair girl.

"Hm?" Ren looked up towards him, Jaune pointed a finger upwards.

"I'll be in my room if you need me." Ren nodded and turned back to the television screen. Jaune could also see two bats propped up against the table just in case.

The thought of weapons drew Jaune's mind back to what was in his desk. He climbed up the stairs; most of the house was dark with the lights being turned off and everyone asleep.

Blake and Sun had taken residence in Katherine's room. Neptune and Weiss had apparently taken Mina's room. Coco and Velvet were in Sepherinas room. Helena, Miriya, Claire were in their room, Yang and Ruby were hold up in his parent's room.

Jaune opened the door to Nessa's room and peeked in; there was no one in there. He frowned, where was Pyrrha?

He looked down the hall towards the bathroom but there wasn't any light coming out from it. She so wasn't in there, was she downstairs? Jaune was about to go downstairs when he remember the last time he found her up here.

Looking down the hall he could see the faint light of his lamp coming from underneath the door. He turned and walked down the hall till he stood outside his door. Leaning close he pressed his ear against the door, he wasn't sure why but he felt like that was the smart idea.

He didn't hear anything at first but took a deep breath and held it. Still there was no sound, was she asleep? He gripped the door handle and twisted it slowly, pushing the door inward.

Pyrrha was sitting at his desk staring blankly at the Glock that was on the table. Jaune felt a cold sweat break out on his neck and swiftly stepped forward.

Pyrrha jerked back in surprise as Jaune picked up the pistol before stepping back. She looked up at his face, seeing the controlled rage in his eyes.

"I-I'm sorry! I just never seen a gun up close so I got curious" Pyrrha said instinctually but Jaune silenced her with a wave of his hand.

"What the fuck is wrong with you Pyrrha? Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?" Jaune demanded Pyrrha could feel her hands go cold.

"I wasn't holding it or anything." Jaune walked to the other side of the room and set it on his window sill before turning back to Pyrrha.

"Doesn't matter, what if you accidentally set it off when you took it out of my desk drawer and set it on top? You could have been hurt or killed Pyrrha or you could have hurt or killed someone else." Pyrrha looked away, shame clearly on her face. Jaune took a deep breath, forcefully calming himself down.

"Look Pyrrha, I know you weren't trying anything but please don't touch it again." Pyrrha nodded as she got up and sat on his bed. Jaune ran a hand through his hair as he picked up the handgun and carried it over to the desk. He sat down in his chair; he pulled the magazine out of the handgun and pulled the slide back.

A single round was ejected, bouncing on the floor. Jaune set the handgun on the desk before turning around to scoop up the stray round and set it back into the magazine. As he set the magazine down on the desk, he turned to Pyrrha. For what it was worth he could see that she was incredible ashamed about what she had done.

"Look Pyrrha, I know you didn't mean to do something bad but please, until me, my dad or someone teaches you how to handle a firearm, don't go near them." Pyrrha understood, still looking ashamed before brightening up for a second and looked at him.

"Can you teach me?" Jaune blinked in surprise.

"Me?" She nodded enthusiastically.

"Yea, if you teach me I would feel a lot better at knowing how to use one plus you wouldn't have to worry." Jaune pondered it over for a little before nodding.

"Alright, I'll teach you but not now. It isn't a good time to teach you how to handle it, so later." Pyrrha smiled but it vanished as she looked past him. Jaune spun around in his chair to come face to chest with Yang who had her hands resting on her hips. He looked up and could see that she wasn't really looking at him as well but at Pyrrha.

"Sup Yang." He said simply, confused by the weird look she had on her face. However it quickly changed into a beaming smile.

"Hey Jaune, thanks again for making those cookies, they were really good." Jaune waved one hand in front of his face.

"Its fine Yang, I like cooking. Besides, I kind of ate more than a few cookies myself." Yang laughed, Jaune stood up and offered the chair for her to sit. Yang shook her head and moved towards the bed to sit next to Pyrrha, who had a smile plastered on her face.

Though for some reason her smile felt off to Jaune he wasn't sure why. As Yang took a seat on the bed her eyes flickered over to the desk and widened then looked at Jaune.

"Jaune!? What the hell is that?" She said looking at the unloaded handgun, Jaune shrugged.

"It's my gun." Yang looked at him as he took his seat again.

"What do you mean by your gun?" Jaune tilted his head a little confused at the question.

"It's my gun; my dad helped me buy it." Pyrrha looked slightly confused but Yang nodded.

"Have you used it?" Jaune nodded.

"By use it, do you mean fire it? Yea I got lessons from my old man how to use guns, plus I've got my license with the help of my old man as well." Pyrrha frowned at that.

"Why?" Jaune shrugged.

"Maybe because he knew of my goal to join the Army like he did when he was around my age. Though he also told me that it was a tool to protect the family and those that are close to me with, so who knows?" Yang took her giant mane of hair in hand, running her fingers through it slowly.

"Do you think he knew what was going to happen?" Jaune thought about it but shook his head.

"I'm not sure any of us could have truly predicted what would happen." They sat there for a little, no one said anything, Jaune wasn't sure what to really say next but thankfully Yang broke the silence again.

"Ruby and I know how to use guns as well." Jaune raised an eyebrow.

"Really? She nodded.

"My uncle Qrow, the guy with your dad, is a police officer. He convinced my dad to take me out to learn how to use a gun. When Ruby was old enough, our dad let her go with me and my uncle. Surprisingly enough she's a pretty good shot. Qrow's got this old Remington .223 rifle which Ruby wanted to use so he taught her the basics on how to fire it and I swear I've never seen anyone as good with a rifle as her. She was hitting targets at a thousand yards out, ten out of ten times." Jaune blinked in surprise to hear that.

"What about you?" Jaune asked Yang held her hand out, palm down and shook it a little.

"I think I'm an okay shot, nothing compared to Ruby but personally I've always preferred to be up close and personal with a shotgun. I mean if someone's got the range on me though, I'd hope Ruby would be there because she'd have my back while being safe in some hidden area." Jaune chuckled slightly and looked at the handgun, his smile fading again.

"While I can't relate to you two about the guns, are you going to be able to use it to kill?" Pyrrha asked suddenly, the mood in the room plummeted. Jaune turned to face the two women in front of him and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

"I don't think that's going to be a problem." Pyrrha and Yang exchanged looks but Pyrrha had a look of revelation. She looked at Jaune, sorrow written all over her face.

"You mean earlier when we were heading to the main building." Jaune nodded, his face darkened as he thought about.

"Even now it feels like a dream, I can imagine that girl's head deforming as I bashed it with the bat. It's nothing like in the movies, I felt exhausted afterwards, probably because my heart was beating a million times a second both during and after." Pyrrha was about to reach out but Yang stepped off the bed, kneeling next to Jaune. She placed one hand on his right knee and her left hand on his forearm.

"It's alright Jaune, we understand. Sure maybe not to the full extent but we understand that it wasn't an easy task for you to do but I trust my life in your hands to be able to do what you need to do with that." She said looking over at the desk, Jaune nodded.

"Thanks Yang." He said before looking up at Pyrrha.

"You as well Pyrrha, thank you." She smiled.

"It's not a problem Jaune, we're friends. We have to have each other's back." Jaune sat up straighter, Yang took her hands off him.

"Well I suppose we should all get some sleep, I've gotta take over for Ren on watch soon." The two girls nodded and stood up but Jaune stopped Pyrrha.

"Pyrrha you can just use my bed, I can just use my chair." She looked surprised to hear him say that.

"Jaune, I can't it's your bed." Jaune shook his head.

"Nonsense, I already found you in my bed before." Yang seemed to make a weird sound that was like a mix between screaming and choking.

"Wow Pyrrha, already in a guy's bed eh?" Pyrrha looked down but Jaune could see her face was slightly red though he was pretty sure his was as well.

"Yang, it wasn't like that." She stepped forward to stand next to Jaune.

"Whatever you say, anyways I was wondering if I could just crash here as well?" Jaune looked at her confused at the request.

"Why? You and Ruby already are in my parent's room, the bed should be big enough for the two of you to share." Yang shrugged.

"True, but I'm sure Ruby is already fast asleep and considering how our day went I wouldn't want to disturb her now." Jaune scratched his cheek, oblivious to the look Pyrrha was giving both him and Yang.

"I guess why not, though Ren and Nora are also gonna stop by here so I'll need to set something out for them." Pyrrha nodded, turning to head towards the window and peek around the blanket to look outside. Yang on the other hand leaned closer to Jaune.

"Say, you've known those two the longest. What's up between them, are they together?" Jaune grinned and gave a wink.

"That depends, do you mean together or together-together?" Yang just looked puzzled as Jaune left the room, closing the door behind him.

As he closed his door and turned around in the hallway to see that a single light was on, he was also greeted by the sight of Weiss's face up close with his.

"Jesus Arc, be careful." Weiss said as she backed away, Jaune just chuckled, earning an irritated glance from Weiss.

"I'm sorry I didn't expect to see you up and about." Weiss straightened up.

"I was just returning from downstairs, looking for you. Ren said you'd be in your room." Jaune nodded, a little confused why she would be looking for him.

"So what's up?" He watched as Weiss closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Look, I know I've been, abrasive, but I just wanted to say thank you." Jaune tilted his head a little.

"What for?" Weiss gave another annoyed look at him.

"Come on now, don't be dense. I was as the others said, a bit bitchy earlier. It was unfair of me when you were going out of your way to help me and Neptune." Jaune raised his hand stopping her.

"Look Weiss, what happened earlier between us is more my fault than yours. I haven't been the best person to you these last few years. Constantly annoying you with flirts and attempts to get you to go out with me, it wasn't until recently that I realized how much of an asshole I've been. So I don't blame you for being as you say abrasive. If it was a reverse position, I wouldn't be the mostly friendly person as well whenever they come up." Even in the dimly lighted hallway he could see Weiss looking surprised at what he said.

"So you're not mad?" Jaune shrugged.

"Why would I be? If anything all I want is for us to at least start over and possibly be friends, though I understand if you wouldn't want to even go that far but realize this Weiss, you're here and the others like you thus I'll have your back like I would anyone else here." Jaune said rapidly before taking a deep breath and exhaling, it felt good to finally say that.

"Alright." She said and Jaune looked up, to see a small smile grazing her features.

"Alright?" This time she nodded.

"Friends it is then." Jaune smiled.

"Alright then, now if you excuse me, I need to find some blankets and bedding for Yang." Weiss looked confused.

"She's in my room and wants to stay in there instead of disturbing Ruby." Weiss still looked confused but nodded before turning around to head back to Mina's room. Jaune walked past her to another door in the hallway, opening it to reveal a dozen blankets and pillows.

"Oh by the way Jaune." He turned to look at Weiss who was holding Mina's door open.

"Yea?"

"Thanks for the food." She said and entered the room, closing the door behind her. Jaune smiled and shook his head a little before scooping up half a dozen pillows and whatever blanket he could carry.

He returned to his room, opening the door to see that Yang and Pyrrha were just sitting on his bed at opposite ends. They both saw him and immediately stood up and went to him.

"Here let me help you with that." Pyrrha said, reaching out to take some of the pillows and blankets away.

"Didn't you and Ren cover most of the windows with blankets already? How many do you have?" Yang asked, Jaune shrugged as he picked up a thick blanket and spread it out before laying it on the floor.

"A lot, I asked my mom before why she insisted on buying new blankets but she always said there was no such thing as too many blankets, never understood her logic in that." Pyrrha smiled as she watched Jaune layer more blankets on the ground before setting four pillows at one end. He turned back around, handing her and Yang a blanket as well.

"I guess it worked out in the end." Jaune chuckled as he sat in his chair again and leaned back. Looking over at his clock, he realized that it was nearly one in the morning.

"Well, I guess we should get some sleep." Pyrrha frowned as she took a seat at the head of his bed.

"Are you going to sleep in a chair?" Jaune covered his mouth with one hand as he yawned then clasped them behind his head, leaning back in the chair and resting his feet on the desk.

"Wouldn't be the first time I've slept in my chair, heck sometimes I prefer sleeping in it than my bed." Yang and Pyrrha exchanged looks before shaking their heads but as the two girls turned back to look at Jaune. They could see that his eyes were already closed and it seemed like he was already asleep.

Slowly the two girls got into comfortable positions of their own on each respective side of the bed. Before long all three teens were deep in sleep.

 **Meanwhile…**

* * *

Ren leaned forward watching the television broadcast flicker before the News station was cut off. The steady tone of the Emergency broadcast station came on and words appeared on the screen.

Telling of how the nation was now in a National Emergency and Martial Law was in effect. He scoffed at seeing that, it was a little late to be issuing that.

There was to be a curfew from seven to seven, anyone seeking passage to leave Vale must go through a Military checkpoint to get certified before leaving the city. Ren scoffed, the message was far too late he feared, the things were growing in numbers far too fast to handle without lethal military means.

Of which he suspected that the only ones to go straight to those means and beyond was the nation of Atlas.

Being both the world's superpower in both technology and military might, they would have logically restricted international travel when Vacuo was afflicted.

Now they would have no doubt closed down their borders completely. Though they weren't heartless, they would probably still look and gladly accept any uninfected they could find. If only to bolster their own nation's military to combat this growing threat.

Ren looked at the ceiling; he would have to have a talk with Jaune and his parents when they came home about what to do.

However Ren also had a faint idea that something had gone terribly wrong with Alexander and Qrow. No one had made any contact with them since they had left, nor had they returned.

Ren checked his phone; he narrowed his eyes to see that there was no cell service. He tried sending a message to Alexander but it wouldn't go through. He set the phone aside and cursed silently to himself.

If something happened, that would mostly mean that they were on their own. If that's the case, Jaune would end up having to not only keep his sisters safe but the rest of the group as well. Sure it didn't have to be him but it seemed they just naturally gravitated to him for a plan.

Jaune however has been mostly busy cooking; cleaning and taking stock of what supplies they did have in the house. So he never had any time to try and contact his father or come up with a plan of his own. If Ren had to speculate, he felt that Jaune subconsciously didn't want to have to worry about it.

For as long as Ren known Jaune, he could see the lack of self-confidence he had in himself. Sure there were some things he enjoyed doing with confidence such as cooking.

Which he was really good in; Ren had no qualms about saying that. However he would hesitate to point out that Jaune had a habit of asking repeatedly to those he fed if they liked his food. Even here he needed to constantly affirmed about his food being good.

Even when he started to heavily workout, Ren saw how much it affected him. While he did become more confident in himself, he always downplayed the amount of work he put in.

Some would say it was just modesty but Ren felt it was Jaune's way of telling himself that he needed to work much harder.

Ren picked up the remote and turned off the television, the room darkened and he could see nothing. Slowing his breathing, Ren listened; there was no abnormal sound in the house.

Outside he could hear the faint popping and cracking of what sounded like fireworks but he knew that it was actually gunfire. Occasionally the sound of a helicopter could be heard but there was no pointing in trying to signal one of those down.

Ren stood up slowly and navigated his way out of the living room, making sure to go slow as he felt the surrounding area. He slowly made his way to the front door, his vision was adjusting to the darkness and he felt for the peephole in the door.

When his fingertips brushed it, he leaned forward to look through it. The outside was illuminated slightly; it seemed that the street lights were working.

Backing away, he made his way over to the dining room where a giant thick blanket covered the window there. Lifting it up slightly, Ren slipped under it to look outside, he could see that all the street lights were in fact working.

However he couldn't see light coming from any of the nearby houses. The best case scenario would mean that whoever was inside had turned them off or did something like them to block the light from escaping. The worst case being that the occupants never made it home or were dead inside.

That brought to Ren, what Jaune told him about his mother. He could feel his heart wrenching at it, a lump starting to form in his throat as he held back the threat of tears. Taking a shaky breath Ren lowered himself back down under the blanket, careful not to pull it down or make it any obvious movement for a potential observer.

A pair of arms closed in around his chest, they were warm and so very familiar. He smiled in the dark and reached up, placing his hand over them.

"Hello Nora." He said softly, he could imagine the sleepy smile that would be on her face at the moment.

"What are you doing up?" The sleepy muffled voice of Nora came from behind him as she buried her face into his back. She lowered her arms and Ren turned around only for her to hug him again, for most people the guy would carry the sleepy girl back to get her rest. That wasn't the case for him and Nora.

The shorter girl was much stronger than she looked. She easily lifted Ren up and carried him, bridal style, back to the couch.

"Nora, I've got to keep watch for a little longer, and then I can wake Jaune up so he can take over while we get some sleep." He said as Nora set him down on the couch, only to crawl on top to lay on him. He could feel the warmth of her body against his; she leaned up towards his face.

Though he couldn't really see her, Ren could feel the warmth of her breath against his neck, crawling up the side of his head till it reached his ear.

"I can think of something that'll make time go by real quick." At that moment Ren knew, shit was about to get real.

Nora's face centered itself with his; he could feel the softness of her lips press against his. As they were locked kissing each other, Ren placed one hand on the small of her back with the other one resting on her ass. Giving it a small squeeze Nora jumped a little, a giggle escaping from her mouth as they broke away slightly to breath.

As they locked lips with each other, Ren could feel Nora's hands drift lower and lower till she was rubbing his crotch from the outside of his pants. He could feel his member stiffen at the friction of her rubbing; a mischievous giggle escaped her lips.

"It seems someone isn't sleepy as well." She whispered in his ear before going back to kiss him, he could feel her hands reaching up and deftly undoing his pants.

Nora lifted herself off Ren and kneeled down next to him, quickly removing her top then reaching behind her to undo her bra, letting it fall to the floor. She took his right hand in hers, kissing it before putting it on her exposed breasts.

She felt a tingle of pleasure travel up and down her spine as Ren started to rub her breasts with one hand, his thumb circling the outside of her nipple. A smoldering heat started to take hold of her entire body, her breathing increased and she could feel the dampness between her legs start to grow.

Nora reached out with her right hand, feeling for Ren till she found where she had left off after undoing his pants. His dick was stiff but constrained by his underwear. Nora felt a smile split her face as her fingers hooked on the waistband of his underwear, pulling it down.

As his dick cleared the edge of his underwear, Ren could feel it sticking up, smacking against Nora's hand. His own hand was experiencing the bliss of feeling Nora's breast, as always he thoroughly enjoyed the feel of her skin in his hands.

"I love you Ren." Nora whispered Ren felt a smile spread across his face at hearing that.

"I love you too Nora." He could practically taste the happiness that radiated off her at that. Then he felt Nora shift to the right. Ren felt the familiar feeling of something warm and wet sliding up the side of his dick; it didn't even take a moment to realize that it was Nora's tongue. As she reached his head, he felt her actually kissed it before erupting in a barely contained giggle.

"Boop." Ren couldn't help but smile at her silliness but it evolved to joy as he felt his dick enveloped by the warmth and wetness of her mouth. He pressed his fist against his mouth to keep him from making any noise as Nora sucked his dick, her tongue pressing against and rubbing his dick it was nothing but pure ecstasy from there.

Nora enjoyed the feeling of Ren's dick in her mouth, the mere presence of it was enough to make her wet. However as she lowered her head feeling his dick hit the back of her throat, she could feel the thin trails of wetness travel down the inside of her legs.

She rubbed her legs together as she bobbed her head up and down his dick. Her tongue pressed and massaged around his cock, she lowered her left hand. Having it snake down past her own pants and panties to begin fingering herself slowly.

She raised her right hand to gently grasp Ren's balls and began to slowly massage them. She leaned down forward as taking as much of Ren's dick into her mouth till she started to gag a little then lifted her head up slightly.

Then she lowered it again until her face was pressed against his body, Nora made sure to make a swallow motion with Ren's cock balls deep in her mouth.

After a while since they started Ren could feel a tension building in him with Nora's mouth around his dick. He tapped Nora's shoulder causing her to stop her head bobbing though she ended have his dick be balls deep in her mouth.

"I'm almost there." He whispered, feeling Nora nod her head slightly in acknowledgement then proceed to pick up the speed of her deep throating his dick. Ren leaned back as trying to savor the sensation of Nora's mouth around his dick but it was too much.

Her hand was slick from fingering herself when Ren told her he was close, so she doubled her efforts. She could tell Ren was trying to hold on but she wanted him to cum, oh how much she wanted to feel it in her mouth.

Soon enough she heard Ren give a slight startled gasp at the same time as he shot his load in her mouth. The pulsing of Ren's cock as he shot his load down her throat was an experience of pleasure that few things in her life that can beat. When she was sure that she had taken every drop of his warm cum, she finally lifted her head, feeling incredible satisfied with her work.

"It's a shame you can't do that on my pancakes anymore." She said as she crawled onto Ren again, one of his arms snaked around her waist as she rested her head on his chest.

"Yea, I don't think Jaune would be very happy if I did that, especially when his sisters are around." Nora hummed her agreement.

"How long do you think it'll take before he's gonna tap Pyrrha?" Nora asked out of the blue and Ren was surprised to hear her ask that.

"I don't know, but if you ask me I think the real question isn't when is he going to tap her but when Pyrrha or Yang is going to tap him."

"Yang?"

"Yea, haven't you noticed the way she looks or acts around him?"

"Not really."

"Well, it seems our dear oblivious friend has a war for his heart going on."

"Or a war for his dick."

"My sounds more epic."

"It was lame."

"You say that but we both know it's true."

"If I ride your face, will you stop talking?"

"We'll see after we switch with Jaune on the watch rotation."

"Sweet."

 **Later…**

* * *

Jaune swore that he had just closed his eyes when someone had already started to jostle him awake. Blearily opening his eyes, he looked up to see Ren and a smirking Nora standing over him.

Though Nora wasn't smirking at him, she was actually looking at Ren the entire time, strange. Though to be fair this was Nora, she was in general a very strange girl, but his friend nonetheless.

"Time to switch Jaune." Ren said evenly, though Jaune narrowed his eyes at the magenta eyed teen. Something was off about him as well, for some reason Jaune thought he could detect the faint whiff of stale sweat.

"Alright, what time is it?" Jaune said as he sat forward.

"About half past two." Ren replied, Jaune nodded as he stood up and stretched his back, a loud yawn escaping his mouth. He looked towards Ren who was staring at his desk; Jaune followed his gaze and saw that he never did put the handgun away.

"Your dad gave you that?" Ren asked.

"Yea and before you ask, I am certified to use it." Ren held his hands up in surrender.

"Hey man, I wasn't going to say that. Though I was wondering if you think you actually could use it." Jaune scoffed as he leaned down under his bed and pulled out the shoulder rig. He slipped it over his body then opened his desk to take out the remaining magazines in there. He picked them up and began to stuff them in the three pouches on the right side of the holster.

Picking up the Glock Jaune turned the mounted flashlight on and off before taking the full magazine from the table then slotting it into the magazine well. The Glock which had been slide locked indicating that it was empty snapped into place. Tucking it into the holster Jaune made sure he had everything then nodded to himself.

"Alright then, Ren I've laid some bedding for you and Nora. You two can use it; sorry that you couldn't use the bed but Yang and Pyrrha seemed to have divided the bed." Jaune said, thrusting his thumb backwards at the two dozing girls.

As Jaune looked over his shoulder at him he was surprised to see that they both seem to have fallen asleep sitting across from each other.

The pillows were stacked up in a straight line between them. It almost looked like they were constructing a wall.

"That's just weird." Jaune muttered as he patted both Ren and Nora's shoulders as he walked past them. He closed the door behind them and closed his eyes, the hallway was still dark and it seemed that Ren had turned the television off downstairs as well.

After waiting a few more minutes, Jaune's eye sight adjusted enough that he could navigate the hallway and down the stairs. Fishing out his cell, he turned on the flashlight app on it and looked around the rooms, careful not to flash any of the windows in case someone or something noticed it.

He proceeded to sit down on one of the lounge chairs, he was going to sit on the main sofa but something told him not too.

As he was about to turn off his light, he realized that there was a waiting text message for him. He opened it and saw that it was from his mom, the time stamp stating that it was at least six hours old.

-I'm sorry- Jaune felt his blood run cold at that and immediately sent a response.

-Mom?- He waited a few minutes but the message failed to send. He looked at his signal, but there was none, which was weird. He sent it again and waited but once again it failed to send.

Either she wasn't getting it or his phone was being weird. He pulled up his dad's number and sent him a message as well but it failed to go through.

Jaune stood up and paced around the living room to think. He came to the conclusion that the service provider was faulty so he or his parents weren't able to message each other.

Jaune stopped as he realized that they hadn't come home yet.

Nessa's school wasn't that far away, they should have been back now. Even if they had to take an alternate route they would have been here by now.

Were they dead?

He shook his head, he didn't have all the facts he couldn't make any assumptions. He needed to stay calm for the sake of his friends and family. He walked slowly towards the kitchen and turned on one set of lights. It was enough to at least see where he was going and what he was looking at.

He continued to pace around the kitchen thinking. What would dad tell him to do? Aside from staying calm and maintaining what security they had. Thinking back to what he said before he left, he needed to take stock of both the supplies in the house and the bags that he brought with Qrow.

Jaune spent the next ten minutes looking through the kitchen to take stock of what they had before heading into the garage. In there was where they had stored the supplies his dad had brought from the store. After bringing and setting them out on the kitchen table, Jaune began to take in what his dad brought.

He had about sixty four bags of emergency water pouches that held five fluid ounces in each one. While not a lot in the long there it was enough to stave off any serious dehydration risk for a group their size.

Then there were forty packaged meals and another thirty MREs. While great for compact storage they had the unfortunate drawback of mostly requiring water to bring their full nutritional value. Thankfully the MREs come with heating packs while the packaged meals required hot water.

There was also twenty single serving flat breads along with the MREs, Jaune figured they must be some sort of snack for them to use.

After that there were three multi-tools, a hatchet, a folding saw knife, along with the Ka-bar that his dad gave him there was four more similar knives in sheathes as well.

To top it all off was an eighteen inch machete in a black sheath. Pulling the machete out of the sheath Jaune could see that it looked like a tanto blade; Jaune just shook his head as he put it back in the sheath and set it aside.

Next there was also a box of water proof matches, a magnesium fire starter, road flares, binoculars, rope. Jaune wasn't sure what they would do with the rope but then again he wasn't an expert. There were two first aid kits, a lock pit set for some reason, flashlights, and extra batteries.

There were also portable hand warmers; they were tiny bags that activated by simply being removed from their package. There was also a portable butane camping stove with an extra tank of gas for it, along with Chlorine tablets.

Lastly there were the weapons. Jaune found multiple empty magazines for Glocks and a Sig Sauer. There were a dozen thirty round bricks of nine and forty-five caliber rounds. Along with at least sixty twelve gauge shotgun shells and a couple hundred rounds for a five point five six millimeter rifle with empty magazines in the bag.

If Jaune recalled correctly, he dad used a Stag rifle which were using these. This also meant that the spare Glock magazines in here needed to be split between the nine and forty five rounds.

He sighed, which ultimately meant that he needed to load these magazines by hand. Sitting down with a brick of rounds in one hand and an empty magazine in the other he set to work.

 **Four Hours Later…**

* * *

Pyrrha realized that she was sitting before she even opened her eyes, suppressing a yawn she looked around the room. However she couldn't see anything as the room was pitch black from a blanket covering the window.

Which probably was a good thing since her eyes felt like they were gonna close again at any moment in an attempt to get back to sleep.

Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, she pressed her feet against the cool hardwood floor of Jaune's room. Looking as her eyes started to adjust she patted herself for her phone and brought it out. Turning it on, the bright LED screen momentarily blinded her.

It was a half past six, far past her normal wake up time but she had been dead tired from yesterday. Mixed in with the fact that she went to sleep late, she wasn't surprised to have a break in her normal routine.

Everyday had been wake up early, stretch, do some weight lifting and calisthenics then run. Long ago it had been an exhilarating task to push her daily. The sweat and burn of a good workout was to her like coffee to others when it came to the morning.

However it wasn't long till that thrill was no longer there for her. Her routine had in a sense became duller and duller but she was trapped by it.

She had become embroiled in so many sports at her old school, winning fame far and wide from it that easing up on the training was no longer a question. Instead she had to increase it to match the expectations of both her parents and others.

It wasn't long after the school year ended that her parents had told her that they would be moving to Vale. At first Pyrrha had been so excited, to go to a new place and experience a new culture with new people, ones that she hoped to be friends with.

Her athletic fame had another unforeseen downside. Due to how well she managed in every sport she was involved in, her teammates no longer tried. Instead relying on her to pull through and lead them to victory.

Sure at first she had been friends with all of them, they would hangout during school and eat lunch together all the time. After school or during practice they would come to her for help or tips but as she started attaining win after win, it soon became apparent that some of them were resentful.

As Pyrrha stepped out into the hallway to look for Jaune, she could still remember overhearing how some of her teammates talking about how she was really just a glory hound. Though surprisingly it wasn't that which led her to be more resented by them, it was the perceived difference in skill and talent.

They felt that for all their hard work that they could never attain the level of talent that she had apparently been born with according to them. No one knew about the countless hours she put in to practice each and every sport. To them she only got to where she was by some genetic fluke or luck.

She smiled bitterly at the memory; it had been a while since she had thought about that time. Summer had been a time to unwind and forgot those memories, then comes the new school year where she met Jaune.

Pyrrha remembered seeing him work so hard that first morning; she had followed him for over a mile. She was surprised to see the speed he was going. When she overtook him, he didn't hold any hard feelings when they miraculously met at school later that same day.

One thing led to another she had made three new friends and ones that she'll forever cherish, Jaune in particular. Not only was he nice but he had come to her aid when Cardin and his cronies had her cornered, she was still incredibly grateful for him doing that.

However when he asked if she wanted to hangout, going so far as to pick her up himself, she became enthralled. She wasn't an expert in matters of emotional ties and the like but she felt confident that she indeed liked Jaune a lot.

To the point that even she was surprised at how defensive she is whenever she sees Yang around him. Pyrrha didn't dislike Yang but something about the way she talked or interacted with him rubbed her the wrong way.

As Pyrrha reached downstairs, she was welcomed by the smell of cooking. Her stomached rumbled slightly and she made her way to the kitchen. The first thing she noticed was the half a dozen bags lying in the far corner.

She wasn't sure what they were but that thought was pushed out of her mind when she saw Jaune setting a four stack high plate of freshly made pancakes. Jaune looked up at Pyrrha and smiled. Pyrrha felt her heart flutter slightly and smiled brightly back.

"Good morning Pyrrha, sleep well?" Jaune said before turning back to the stove top.

"Good morning to you as well Jaune and I did, thank you for asking. So, what are you doing?" She asked, as much as she liked a good breakfast, she was worried that Jaune was forgetting what was happening outside.

Though that thought was shut down as she realized that he was wearing some sort of holster around his chest. It looked like he was now openly walking around with the handgun on him.

"I figured why not make food for everyone to start the day." She nodded slowly as she took a seat.

"That's nice Jaune." He sighed, setting aside his spatula.

"Look Pyrrha, I know that this seems like I'm just ignoring what's going on but trust me I haven't forgotten." Pyrrha was about to speak up when a new voice spoke from behind her.

"Dad hasn't returned as he." Pyrrha looked over her shoulder to see Helena standing with her arms crossed, leaning against the wall.

"Yea." Jaune said simply, not turning to face his sister.

"But we're going to wait for a little while for him and during that time we need to have talk, and by that I mean everyone." Jaune said as he flipped a pancake. He turned around to face Pyrrha and Helena who stood there watching him.

"Helena, if you or Claire or Miriya have any spare clothes that can fit Pyrrha and the other girls, go ahead and set them out for them to try. Remember to be practical about the clothes though, nothing too fancy, light and durable for extended use is preferable." Helena nodded and turned to leave the room. Pyrrha stepped forward as Jaune turned to grab a plate.

"Pyrrha, since you're up do me a favor and start checking outside for any signs of those things. Remember to not be too obvious when looking, I wouldn't want them attacking the house before everyone's up and ready." Pyrrha nodded and left the kitchen. Jaune set his spatula to the side, he wasn't ready for this. He had no idea what he was going to tell everyone later nor did he have a good plan to get them all out of the city.

Jaune took a deep breath to steady his nerves and went back to the pancakes, while making breakfast did in fact seem a bit silly. Jaune needed to do it to calm his nerves; he had no doubt in his mind if he didn't do this he'd be twitching violently from anxiety.

One by one, everyone started to come downstairs. Jaune had already set out blueberries, sliced strawberries, maple syrup, whip cream, scrambled eggs, along with bacon and of course pancakes. The first person to grab a plate was Weiss. Who took a little of everything, Jaune was surprised and she must have seen the look on his face.

"What? I'm hungry and you've shown that you make really good food." Jaune laughed as he turned back around to tend to the next batch of pancakes.

Next came a cheery Sun and Blake who looked like she was going to be sick. Sun grabbed plates for both of them, piling on whatever Blake murmured to him.

"Rough morning Blake?" Jaune asked, she just gave him a deaden look before showing her middle finger to him.

"I'll take that as a yes." Jaune said as Sun laugh, leading Blake to the table. As Jaune turned off the stove he turned to see Ren standing next to him, a serious look on his face.

"Any news?" He asked Jaune shook his head.

"No news from my Dad but VNN as a live broadcast advising people to stay indoors or if they can to leave Vale. The military has apparently been setting up camps along most of the freeways out of Vale. Though now they've just got some random scientist and a Police Captain debating what they should do. Plus it seems cell service is no longer an option to use." Ren nodded then looked towards the window that overlooked the backyard.

"What about outside?" Jaune shook his head.

"No big movements but I did see some of those things about an hour and a half ago but they were heading away from us." Ren nodded and was about to walk away when Jaune grabbed his arm. Ren looked back at his friend and could see the tension in his body.

"Keep everyone here when they're done eating, we've got to have a talk." Ren nodded as Jaune let go of his arm to start cleaning up the kitchen. Pyrrha returned from the front of the house. Jaune looked towards her as she stepped closer to him.

"See anything out there?" Jaune asked as he put away the pan he had been using.

"No it's all clear from what I saw." Jaune nodded and gestured towards the remaining food.

"Grab yourself a plate; I've got to talk to everyone about some stuff." Pyrrha looked a little puzzled but grabbed a plate anyways, loading it with food before sitting next to Nora. As everyone was about done with their food, Jaune cleared his throat. Drawing the attention of everyone there, he winced to see that they really were giving their undivided attention to him.

"So, uh, how'd everyone sleep?" They looked confused at the question.

"Uh, it was good, all things considering." Ruby said, the others nodding along with her. Jaune sighed, he knew it would be hard but this was ridiculous.

"Alright, I'm going to cut to the chase. First I'm going to say that my dad hasn't returned, nor have I been able to get in contact with him or my mom. Yang, Ruby the same goes for your uncle." The two girls exchanged looks before looking back at him.

"What happened?" Yang asked, she didn't look super upset but Jaune could see both curiosity and fear in her lilac eyes.

"I don't know what happened but I do know that Nessa's elementary school isn't a very far trip. This would mean either they were cut off on any route to come back here or something happened. In addition to that the cell service seems to be down so messages and calls aren't going through." Jaune could see his sisters were starting to get upset by this but it needed to be done.

"So I'm going to go through with the idea that my dad mentioned to me before he left." This drew them forward, intently listening.

"Well first really, we're going to stay here for a few more hours to wait for them. However in that time we're going to need to prepare to leave Vale." This brought a murmur amongst them.

"Leave Vale?" Sun asked.

"Yea, the city isn't safe anymore for us to stay here. So the plan is we're going to either head south or east to the country side. There the population is a lot less dense so the danger of running into anymore of those things along with hostile people with hopefully decreases." Jaune said, making eye contact with both Ren and Nora. An Ren was a testament that people were maybe just as bad as cannibalistic lunatics, zombies or whatever was going on.

"Why not head north? Isn't that where the police and the Valean army is holding out against this things?" Neptune asked, he hadn't really said much. Mostly sticking by Weiss's side the entire time they've been in the group.

"Chances are that going straight towards them will only have us run into more of those things or get shot by the Authorities. I reckon that they're not going to take any chance from people that come through the heart of Vale especially considering how fast this spread."

"How long are we going to be out there?" Weiss asked Jaune simply shrugged.

"I honestly don't know, it can be days, weeks, maybe even months till the World Governments can get this under control. Considering that no one had heard anything from Vacuo for a while I think we're going to be in this for the long run."

"How exactly are we gonna get out of Vale?" Coco asked.

"Well we do have vehicles; I've got my bike and so does Yang. If we head south on Glenmore then take a left heading eastbound on Peterson, it'll only be about twelve or so miles before we reach Cider Avenue which has two on ramps that connect to highway 480, which goes out of Vale."

"That goes to Palmwood; it's got a much lower population than Vale." Yang said.

"Yea, but eighty thousand people are still a lot of people Yang. Not to mention we don't know if this hasn't spread there as well." Weiss pointed out.

"True but I rather take my chances on the open road then a crowded city." Yang said as she leaned back crossing her arms.

"Wait a minute, before we even talk about going anywhere we need to know how much supplies we actually have." Blake cut in before Weiss could reply to Yang; Blake looked at Jaune as she pointed at the six bags in the corner.

"I assume those are the bags your dad had with him when he picked us up yesterday." He nodded.

"There are a number of items in those bags that are beneficial to us but I don't think we've got enough to last us in the long term. That's one of the reasons why I'm talking to you all now, we've got to find anything that can be useful to travel with and take it with us. The top of the list will be food and water; next any first aid material that is in the house, batteries, any hard copy road atlas or map will be nice as well." Jaune could see everyone looking at amongst themselves as he said that.

"Look, I know that none of you want to go out there again but we need to do this. The longer we stay here the more likely we'll run into something that we can't fight off. If that happens we'll have nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. If we tried to cut across houses, it'll be a maze of unknown dangers around every corner. If we can get to the outside we'll have a fighting chance." Jaune said but he could still see that no one wanted to go out there. He stood there watching them yet not a single person spoke up, he sighed.

"Jaune, I'm with you." Ren said as he stood up, quickly followed by Nora then his sisters.

"You're our brother Jaune; we'll go where you need us." Claire said Yang and Ruby stood up next.

"I'm with you Jaune and so is Ruby."

"Yay!" The shorter girl cried out with a fist raised, though she put it down as she realized what she did. Her face tinted red from embarrassment, Jaune chuckled as Sun stood up followed by Blake.

"You're a cool guy Jaune, I'm with you." He said matching Jaune's gaze, Blake simply nodded. Coco and Velvet both stood up, Jaune nodded to them. Weiss stood up with Neptune she gave Jaune a brief smile and nod. Lastly Pyrrha stood up, with a wide smile on her face.

"We're all with you Jaune." He nodded.

"Alright, let's get started."

 **Two Hours Later…**

* * *

Jaune was counting the last of the food that was assembled on the table before him.

Fourteen cans of baked beans, seven cans of soup, a dozen packets of dehydrated mass potatoes, nine cans of chili and a pack of twenty four, twelve fluid ounce bottles of water. Though there were also six cans of Spam, much to his abhorrence.

"Tell me again why we have Spam?" Jaune asked as he looked at Claire who was double checking the supplies.

"I don't know Dad always ate it so mom bought it whenever she went out."

"Well, as soon as we pack this up we should have everything we need to last us a while." Jaune said as he brought up a black duffel bag that he had found in the garage. There were four more bags that were already filled as well sitting on the floor with the stuff his dad brought.

One of them was already filled with extra canned food, water, two can openers, paper towels, and plastic utensils.

The next one was filled with every bit of medical item they could find. Band-Aids, surgical tape, sterilized gauze, curved operating scissors, four thirty-four ounce bottles of Hydrogen peroxide. Why they had that much was a mystery to Jaune but he didn't complain.

There were also two bottles of ibuprofen with a hundred tablets, two tubes of antibiotic ointment, a dozen tiny hand sanitizer containers, a bag of cotton balls, several instant cold packs and two roles of elastic wrap bandages. Jaune had also tossed in two extra paper towel rolls and a box of disinfectant wipes into the pile.

Helena and Claire had helped the others in the house find spare clothes that they would no doubt need on their trip. So the next two bags had spare clothes that anyone could wear along with socks and underwear for both men and women.

Though Yang was very loud and clear in her complaint that none of the bras his sisters had were big enough for her. He wasn't sure if he should gag or not at the conversation.

So he pulled out the speaker system that Katherine had kept in the garage to plug his phone in to listen to music. While it wasn't the best idea he needed the music to help save his sanity.

As Jaune zipped up the last of the bags, he picked up a few more and started to stack them by the front door. Claire was behind him, struggling with both hands to drag the second food bag with her. Jaune chuckled as he took it out of her hands, to which she replied by frowning and kicking the back of his leg.

He continued to chuckle as he set it down by the front door. However as he stood next to it, he could hear something outside. It sounded like a car.

Jaune spun around and ran into the living room to grab his shoulder rig with the Glock still in the holster. Slipping it around him, he made sure that it was secured before pulling the Glock out.

Ren came thundering down the steps with Nora right behind him, both of them carried bats. The others started to crowd around the base of the steps as they came to investigate the flurry of activity.

"Sun get everyone to the back of the house and stay quiet. Ren you're with me, Nora watch the door. If any of those things get past us, close the door." Nora shook her head vigorously.

"But you'll be trapped out there." Jaune glared at her.

"I know but if they break past you, everyone is dead then." Yang stepped forward.

"Jaune I'll watch the door, Nora can help you instead." Jaune looked at her.

"Are you sure? Because you'll need to do the same thing if that happens to us." She nodded her face set with determination.

"You can count on me Jaune." He clicked his tongue in annoyance, before waving away Sun who guided the rest of them to the kitchen. Jaune gripped the handgun with two hands, as Yang gripped the door handle he placed his finger on the trigger.

Yang opened the door, Jaune walked forward, as he cleared the doorframe; he quickly checked his left and right for anyone. Seeing that both directions were clear, he whistled loudly behind him Ren and Nora stepped out from the house.

Jaune proceeded to make his way down the lawn towards the street, the sound of a car could be heard and he looked both ways for any sign of it.

"Look." Ren said from behind him and he turned to see Ren point, following the direction he saw a red truck coming down from the far side. It was his dad's truck, he felt joy fill his stomach but it quickly changed to dread as several figures came out of the nearby houses.

"Ren, Nora, stay back and cover me, don't if one of them gets past me. Kill them." Jaune said simply as he turned his sights to the nearest one.

It was Mr. Pazdel; his once white shirt was torn up on the right side, revealing his mauled right arm. Blood had soaked into his shirt and for a second it reminded the time his dad spilled wine on his shirt.

Though that illusion was shattered as he looked at his face, Pazdel's face was torn up with marks covering his forehead. Lowering his gaze he could that his jaw was missing with his tongue hanging loosely down, flopping to either side as he ran.

Jaune centered the sights on Mr. Pazdel and calm pulled the trigger. Time seemed to slow down to the point Jaune could see the bullet hole appear in his chest followed quickly by a ripple of fabric and flesh, a small puff of red erupting from the wound.

It was only then that Jaune realized that he wasn't stopping; he pulled the trigger three more times, the kinetic force of the impacts making Mr. Pazdel jerk each time. It was on the fourth round that he finally faltered, the momentum of him running at a full sprint cause him to slam face first into the curb.

Jaune switched to the next person, an older woman and quickly put another four rounds into her. The truck was much closer as Jaune switched again.

A younger man sprinted at Jaune, probably only four or five years old than him. Though it was a little hard to tell since most of the skin and hair was missing revealing bloody red visage of muscle. Jaune fired at him as well; he grimaced as he started to back up.

He fired at the next closing person but as Jaune put a bullet into the person's head, he could see a cloud of dark red blood erupt from the back as they fell to the ground. However he also saw his gun was slide locked, with his right thumb, he pushed the magazine release inward.

The now empty Glock magazine fell out, normally Jaune would have used his other hand to catch the empty magazine but he didn't have to do that. His left hand had already pulled out a fresh magazine from the magazine pouches on his right side. He quickly slotted the new magazine in, and pressed the slide release to chamber a round.

A mauled woman was closing in on him, less than a dozen feet. Jaune brought the gun around as he backpedalled and fired three rounds in quick succession into her sternum. She flopped to the ground, unmoving but Jaune still kept his distance as he turned scanning for new targets.

He was surprised to see Nora and Ren beating down two of those things on their own. Jaune turned back to see the red truck coming to a rough stop in front of the house. Jaune watched only to see Qrow come out from the driver side, his shotgun slung over his shoulder with the Stag rifle in his hands.

"Come on kid!" He said as he ran up to the front door. Jaune gestured for Ren and Nora to move as he turned around to watch the street for any more of those things. His gaze lingered on the dead bodies that now littered the lawn and street.

Jaune shook his head as he turned back around to see Ren and Nora already inside with Qrow standing on the step aiming the rifle towards the street.

"Come on." He growled as Jaune ran inside, Qrow following shortly behind, closing the door.

"Fucking hell, why were you outside?" He asked, after taking a second to breath, Jaune who was leaning his forehead against the wall turned to face him.

"Well, we were already getting ready to leave when we heard you coming. So I decided to go out and cover you in case those things attacked, which they did, as for Nora and Ren here, they decided to watch my back while we did that." Qrow looked at Jaune; he wasn't sure what to tell the kid. Part of him wanted to lecture him about how stupid the idea was but another part thought at least he had the guts to take action. Plus he now knows that he indeed was capable of handling himself with a gun.

He set the rifle aside and unslung the shotgun, setting it next to it. The moment his hand left the gun, something slammed into him looking down he could see Ruby hugging him.

"I missed you." She said, her voice muffled by the vest and clothes. Qrow patted her back softly.

"Hey kiddo." Looking up he could see the rest of the group had come from somewhere, he saw Jaune in the corner of his eye leaning against the wall. Qrow swallowed a lump that was forming, the kid knew.

"Where are our parents?" The oldest of the three Arc girls asked, the roomed seemed to stiffen as everyone began to realize that Qrow came alone.

"Ah, yea about that…" Qrow began but words failed to come out, it wasn't the first time he had to talk to the family members of a fallen friend when it came to police work. However this wasn't that, this was the unnecessary death of a good man who had to take the life of his wife and youngest daughter.

"They're dead aren't they?" Jaune rasped out, everyone turned to see him with his tilted back, his hands covering his eyes.

"Yes." Qrow said simply, unable to think of anything else to say.

"How?" Qrow hesitated before answering.

"Do you really want to know?" Jaune nodded, Qrow sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"Well, we made it to the school and at first it seemed like everything was clear but we didn't know where they were so Alexander said that we should split up. It wasn't until later that I heard gunshots and Alexander calling me to come to the faculty room. He had found your mother and sister there…" Qrow wasn't sure where to continue from there so he just tried to recall what he remembered.

"I found him cradling Arabella in his lap; he had put her out of her misery. The young one was there as well; he had taken care of her as well…" Qrow watched in an almost slow motion fashion the changing of the three Arc girls expression from extreme pain to utter heartbreak. He also noticed the orange hair girl being comforted by the magenta eyed boy.

"It seemed she had been bitten at some point and didn't tell Arabella until it was too late, Arabella hid in a utility closest. When Alexander entered it seemed she got the drop on him as well, so things happened and he told me to get out of there and meet up with all of you." He said one of the Arc girls looked at him with utter disgust.

"And you abandoned him! You're a fucking piece of shit!" She screamed as tears streamed down her face as the others held her. Jaune stepped forward, placing his hands on her shoulders; she embraced him and sobbed loudly into his shirt.

"It's alright Claire, it's not his fault. He did what Dad told him to do." He said, stroking her hair softly. Pyrrha felt her heart squeezing as she saw the pain that was done to Jaune and his family. She didn't know his family that well but nonetheless it hurt her anyways.

Yang draped one arm over Ruby as she hugged her. Yang felt sympathy at the scene before them; she had lost two mothers in her life.

One who didn't want her and another who may not have been her biological mother was a woman whom Yang cherished and loved. Sadly a few years after Ruby was born she was killed in an accident with a drunk driver.

It was also one of the reasons that led to Uncle Qrow to mostly stop drinking. He still had certain days of the year in which he would drink but not often.

However while her and Ruby both still had their dad and uncle. Jaune had lost both of his parents along with his youngest sister in one event. She blinked a few times as the telltale sign of tears came forth. Jaune cleared his throat loudly, drawing everyone's attention.

"I-uh- Look we've got to continue with the plan." Helena looked shocked at Jaune.

"Continue?! Jaune, Dad, Mom and Nessa are dead!" Jaune pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I know Helena but they wouldn't want us to sit around moping, they would want us to go to safety." Helena didn't seem to like that response.

"Safety!? How can you fucking say this plan is safe!? We're gonna drive through a fucking city with the fucking undead trying to eat us! Then we're going to try and survive in the countryside until this all fucking blows over, when we don't even know when the fuck that fucking will happen!" Jaune had apparently reached the end of his patience.

"ENOUGH!" He screamed, Pyrrha jerked her head back in surprise at both the sheer volume and looked of utter rage in his face as he stared down his sister. Helena went silent, looking downed as Jaune stepped towards her.

"I fucking know Helena, don't fucking lecture me about how fucking dangerous this is. I don't want to fucking do this; I wanna go find Mom, Dad, and Nessa bodies so I can bring them home and bury them properly. But I can't fucking do that right now, I've got to fucking try to keep everyone alive because that's what Mom and fucking Dad would want me to do." Jaune stepped back, inhaling and exhaling slowly to calm himself. No one said anything; they stood there silent as Jaune stood there.

It seemed like forever before Helena finally looked up, they could see tears brimming her eyes. She looked remorseful and Jaune finally broke down tears of his own breaking out as he reached out drawing her into a hug. They were all so quiet as the two siblings embraced that Pyrrha could hear that they were both saying something but it was too low for them to hear. He let go of her and turned to Qrow.

"How's the truck?" Qrow who had been silent as the rest of them responded.

"It's in decent condition, did have to run over a few of them and some slammed into the sides but no major damage. Fuel is also relatively fine that it should be a while before it needs to be refueled." Jaune nodded before he looked towards Coco and Sun.

"How about you two, are your cars good to go?" Sun shrugged.

"Probably? I didn't exactly check it when I got out last time."

"I'm good but mine isn't exactly the best for long range trips, it'll probably be the first to go dry." Jaune nodded as he scratched his cheek.

"That's fine; as long as we can make it a safe distance out from Vale it'll be fine. After that we'll see about finding a new vehicle for you to use."

"What about weapons? How are we going to defend ourselves?" Neptune called out; Jaune still wasn't sure what to think of the guy. They hadn't really talked much, he seemed like a nice guy but he didn't know much about him.

"Well, I've got my Glock. Qrow you've got the Stag rifle, give Yang the shotgun." Yang grinned fiercely at that.

"Ooooh come to mama Yang." Qrow looked a little hesitant about giving it to her but he picked it back up and handed it over to her. Yang grasped it by the stock and the receiver; she looked down to check the slide lock.

She pressed a small button behind the trigger to lock the slide then pulled the safety on the top, backhand side of the receiver into the on position. Then slung it over her shoulder and gave a grin with a mock salute to Jaune.

"We've also got a machete and a hatchet, along with a few bats still left." Sun raised his hand, waving it eccentrically like a school boy who had the answer to a question that no one else had.

"Dibs on the machete!" Blake put her hand on his arm while she shook her head, and he slumped forward a little as he put his arm down. Jaune chuckled as he shook his head at the display.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you on this Sun but a machete is a terrible weapon to use. They're primarily meant for slashing or cutting thick vegetation. However the hatchet is a good choice, it's weighty and capable of doing some damage but the biggest issue here is the fact that it seems these things are fast and with the short range of the hatchet it means you'll have one good shot before they're on you." Sun nodded at that thought he did look a little disappointed at not getting the machete.

"Jaune is right about this, these zombies only go down when inflicted with heavy damage. So a machete wouldn't work unless you get it in the throat or head and a hatchet is better at breaking bone and dealing heavy hits it's not very cost effective in terms of reach." Qrow said as he looked through the ammunition bag for spare Stag rifle magazines and slipping them into the pouches on his vest.

"So the best choice is guns?" Coco asked Qrow shrugged.

"From what I can tell, yes guns seem to be a good route in dealing with them."

"But we only have a few guns, Jaune's pistol, your rifle, and the shotgun you just gave Yang." Velvet pointed out.

"I mean, instead of directly leaving Vale we can always try to go back to my dad's store and gather more supplies there. I'm sure he's got more of that freeze dry food stuff, MREs, water, guns and other gear." Jaune said, rubbing his chin in thought.

If they headed that way it'll add another twenty or so minutes in a round trip till they get back to the plan. There was also the matter of whether or not the area was safe for that matter.

Along with the possibility of running into looters or a looted store, just too many factors that could go wrong. Though, the rewards were equally as high as the risks.

"Do you think that's wise? We should just get out of Vale now and just wait in the country side till we get a better idea of what's going on." Weiss spoke up, Blake rolled her eyes.

"Yea but what if things don't get better and we ended up having to fend for ourselves we'll need the gear. Hell we're practically fending for ourselves now cause we already know that things have gone to hell so why not top ourselves off with as much supplies as we can."

"So you're suggesting we go to the store in hopes that no one's already looted it and pile as much food, guns, bullets and whatever else would be in there?" Blake nodded.

"Pretty much." Weiss sighed as she rubbed her temples as if trying to ease an encroaching headache.

"Well that seems like an idea but I guess now how are we going to go about it? Do we all go?" Pyrrha asked, Jaune scratched his head as he looked at Qrow.

"What do you think Qrow? I think it might be best to stick together." He nodded.

"I agree, the current radios we have are only good for a set distance of about eight or ten miles maybe even less." Nora looked confused at that.

"That doesn't seem like a lot." Weiss shook her head.

"Radios such as these falls into lower frequency ranges than some of the more, advanced or pricey ones on the market, because of that lower frequency they travel more in line of sight paths. Though they can still travel through nonmetallic objects like walls or buildings but another issue that comes up is due to the curvature of Remnant. For instance if the horizon is about six miles out from where you were with the radio, you can only reach anyone within that six mile since past that horizon the signal would just go straight to space but that also relies on the height of the receiving antenna. So if an antenna was at a higher altitude past the horizon with no obstruction then it could receive a signal farther out. Which comes in the next fact of how strong the radio is, this is where some physics comes into play, let's take a ball, if you roll it, it will eventually slow down to a number factors such as the power behind it. If I rolled a ball and Jaune rolled a ball, his will go much further because he's able to put more power into it. Going back to radios, this is applied in the same manner, handheld radios can only produce anywhere from 1 to 5 watts of power which also limits the range." Nora, Yang, Sun, Ruby and Miriya held their hands to their ears as if they were in pain.

"Oh god! Make her stop!" Yang cried out.

"I'm in a nightmare!" Miriya called out as she hugged Claire, giving a noticeable fake sob as she held her.

"Nerd!" Sun also yelled and everyone save Weiss started to laugh.

"What?! I'm not a nerd, take that back!" She said, stomping towards Sun who jumped behind Blake for protection. Blake bowed and stepped to the side as Weiss weakly tried to pummel the other blond boy in the room. Qrow clapped his hands together drawing everyone's attention to him.

"Alright it's decided, we're going to go to Alexander's store and gather whatever supplies we can carry with us. Now there are some things we need to discuss first." Jaune stepped forward at this.

"First, vehicle roster time, Coco it's going to be you, Velvet, Miriya and Claire." Coco nodded as Jaune turned to Sun.

"Sun, it's you Blake, Weiss, Neptune, Nora and Ren. Qrow's got the truck so he can take Pyrrha, Helena, and Ruby. Yang, think you can drive the Mustang?" Hey eyes practically burst into flames.

"Can I!?" She asked looking at her Uncle to see him twirling his eyes around his finger.

"Make sure to have it home by midnight." He winked as he flung the keys at her; she caught them in her left hand and stared down at them.

"Alright, when we get there, we'll need to work fast. Top of the list will be guns, ammo, water and food." Qrow said before looking at the group.

"Do you guys understand what you'll need to look for?" Ren nodded.

"Freeze dried food packets, MREs and water bottles or those water packets." Qrow nodded then turned to Yang.

"Yang you're going to be watching the outside until we're done getting the supplies we need. Afterwards you can rotate with inside and get a vest." Yang looked slightly confused.

"Vest?" Qrow gestured to what he was wearing, a grey Condor Cross draw vest that's when Qrow realized something and turned to the group.

"Aside from Jaune, Yang and Ruby, who here has fired a gun before?" Sun and Neptune raised their hand, shockingly enough so did Velvet. Coco turned to her friend an obvious look of surprise on her face.

"Vel? You've fired a gun before." She nodded.

"Yup, my aunt actually bought me a Walther P22, so I'm okay with a .22. After that, well, I'm kind of wimpy so I never really went further." Qrow waved a dismissive hand.

"That's fine, a .22 can do some serious harm even at a hundred yards but if we find a .22 pistol or rifle you're going to need to find a lot of ammunition of it because you'll probably burn through a lot of it." She nodded as Qrow turned to Jaune.

"You ready?" Jaune stepped past him and towards the stairs.

"Actually I need to get my stuff. I've got a cleaning kit for the Glock already plus my bag." He said before disappearing around the corner. Pyrrha frowned at that and turned to the others.

"Wait a minute, which car did he say he was riding in?" Everyone but Ren and Qrow shrugged.

"I think he intends on riding his bike." Ren said.

"What? Why?" Sun asked but Ren simply shrugged.

"I don't know but if I had to hazard a guess I figure he's probably planning on scouting ahead for us."

"That doesn't seem like a bad idea, we don't know the road conditions at the moment so if he can find the best route for us instead of us getting delayed by having to back track all the time." Yang crossed her arms at that.

"Still founds pretty dangerous to me, I should probably go with him if anything."

"No, it's already been decided the driving arrangement. Beside it seems he knows what he's doing." Yang and Pyrrha looked like they both wanted to argue with that but they heard a thud from above them.

Turning around Pyrrha could see that Jaune had his riding gear strapped on, with a flannel shirt underneath. He had taken his holster off to put the shirt on then put it back on before strapping his protective gear over it. On his back was the large black travel backpack she had seen him with before. He held his helmet in his gloved left hand.

"So everyone ready?" He asked as he stepped towards the door, everyone nodded but didn't say anything.

"Alright so here's the plan, we've got a lot of stuff to take so Yang, Qrow and I will be covering you. Remember to be careful but keep in mind that this isn't going to be a picnic, keep an eye on your surroundings. Qrow, anything else you wanna add?" He asked, directing the last part to the older man. Qrow opened a bag and started to pull out walkie talkies, he set eight of them on a nearby table.

"Yang, Ren, Weiss, Sun, Coco, Helena, Neptune and Velvet, these are for you. They've already got batteries in them; all you need to do is switch to channel 20. Jaune and I already have ones of our own." Neptune looked confused as he picked it up.

"So are we calling them zombies now?"

"I guess?" Jaune said as he patted himself down once again to double check all the straps, he also had the Ka-Bar knife hooked on the right side of his waist. He jostled himself a little make sure the bag was snug on him. He leaned down and was about to lift the two food bags with his left hand but Sun beat him to it.

"Don't worry Jaune, I've got this. You just make sure nothing comes to bite me, literally." Jaune chuckled as he straightened up. Qrow and Yang were next to him, Qrow pulled back the charging handle on the Stag rifle. While Yang turned the safety off and unlocked the pump action of the shotgun, she looked up and nodded at Jaune.

"Alright, we'll move first. If it looks clear, Qrow and Yang will both then unlock the truck and Mustang then return to covering everyone. Load the bags evenly in all the vehicles and whoever's done with the Mustang last close the trunk then tell Yang to displace to get in the car then Qrow you're next once she's in. Finally when you're all in and ready to go I'll get on my bike, if things are getting heated, just follow Qrow's lead and I'll catch up. Any questions?" Jaune asked as he looked over his shoulder at everyone but no one said or looked to have anything to say.

Jaune took a deep breath before exhaling then slipped the helmet on. He stepped to the left hand side of the door and gripped the handle with his left hand.

He raised his right hand with his index, middle and ring finger up to signify a countdown. Qrow stood in front of Yang with the Stag rifle held at ready, Yang was behind him, holding the shotgun but pointed it down towards the ground.

As the countdown ended, Jaune turned the door knob and flung open the front door. Qrow quickly stepped out followed by Yang with Jaune trailing behind them, pulling his Glock out. He looked to his left and right but didn't see anyone.

In the corner of his vision he could see Qrow moving towards the right side of the lawn to look down the street and rows of houses. Jaune looked to his left, Yang was standing at the end of the driveway; she held her shotgun at ready as she watched for any threats.

Jaune turned his head back to Qrow to see him staring at him; Jaune gave him thumbs up. Qrow took out the keys to the truck and unlocked it.

Yang turned to head towards the Mustang and unlocked the trunk quickly. From inside the house Sun, Ren, Nora and the rest of the group came out, holding the bags they made their way over to the cars. Jaune made his way down to the street looking down both ways. He made sure to avoid stepping near any of the bodies of their last incursion outside.

As he looked up again he spotted something in the distance, it looked to be a group of people wandering aimlessly around the street towards them. He felt a cold sweat break out on the back of his neck; he turned to see Yang and Qrow moving back towards him. Jaune waved his hand at them, signaling them to come over.

"What's up?" Yang asked as the first to reach him, Qrow right behind her, he pointed down the street.

"There's a bunch of them coming this way, they haven't spotted us yet but we're going to need to speed things up. Yang, go and tell everyone to finish as fast as they can, Qrow and I will watch them for now. Whistle when they're done, so we can get out of here." She nodded and jogged back up the yard towards the group. Jaune turned to see Qrow watching him; he couldn't help but get the feeling that he was impressed at him.

Qrow turned to the oncoming horde; they stretched from one side of the street to the other. Stumbling over the lawns, cars and each other as they made their way over here, but they still haven't noticed them. He could feel a compulsion in him to aim the rifle and start firing but that would be a terrible idea.

There was far too many of them for a single rifle to make a difference. Looking over his shoulder, he could see that the last of the bags were being loaded into the cars. He turned towards Jaune who had also noticed that and nodded to him. Jaune stayed put as both he and Yang made their ways back to the cars.

"We're cutting it close aren't we?" Yang asked him as she passed by him.

"Just focus on the task at hand and you'll be fine." He replied as he opened the door to the driver seat of the truck and climbed in.

Jaune stayed on the street watching the incoming group; his looked down at the Glock. The sound of car engines turning on snapped his head up in time to see the lead zombies stiffen as well.

"Fuck." Remembering the last time he saw that, he turned to sprint towards his motorcycle, holstering his handgun as he sprinted towards it. He hopped on the bike, kicking up the kickstand and slotting his key into the ignition then turning it on.

He could see that no one had started to move yet, were they all fucking blind now? He shook his head, kicking off with the bike and switching in first gear as he spun around. That's when he realized why everyone hadn't moved yet.

In front of them was at least three dozen more of them, Jaune gritted his teeth. Nevertheless there was still far less than the ones coming on the other side. Jaune hit the throttle as he leaned forward racing towards them.

As he passed the first one, he could see that their reaction times seemed to vary as a few bloodied hands and stumps reached out trying to stop him.

Every time a hand came into his vision or the bike bounced as it hit something Jaune's heart would freeze in absolute terror. Sweat was trailing down his face ever as he miraculously cleared the smaller group.

Looking over his shoulder he could see that more than a dozen were still chasing him down as Qrow and the others drove through them.

Jaune turned around as he shifted into second then third gear, taking off down the road. Everywhere he looked the damages had gotten a lot worse and the number of dead roaming the streets had increased as well.

The further he made it towards the main streets, the more pile ups and zombies he'd encounter. So instead he'd figure that the best way was to try and take the backstreets until he got to the shop. There was a crackle from below Jaune and Qrow's voice appeared.

"Jaune!? Can you hear me!?" Jaune slowed down, shifting back down to first gear as he went down another street. He fished into his jeans front pockets, pulling out a walkie talkie and clicked the send button.

"I hear you Qrow, what is it?" He had to speak up as loud as he could without actually yelling to be heard, due to both the helmet that muffled him slightly and the wind.

"You know where you're going!?" Qrow asked.

"Of course I do! We need to reach Tennyson and Whipple then take a left there; it'll lead us onto Trimble which happens to be the street behind the shops, there we can get in from the back." Jaune said as he leaned right, to avoid an abandoned car in the middle of the road. He could see that two of the windows were shattered from someone or something breaking it.

"Who's bringing up the rear?" Jaune asked as he clicked the send button again, he released it and waited for a moment.

"I am but color me surprised Jaune; I didn't know you were an ass man." Yang replied then Ruby's voice immediately responded.

"Ewww Yang, that's gross."

"No it's not; Jaune likes a good rear when he sees one."

"Alright that's enough, Yang is there anything trailing us?" Jaune said, exasperated at the conversation.

"Nothing behind us, we outran any of those zombies that came after us."

"Alright but keep an eye out, we don't know if they actual gave up."

"Actually I think we already know that if they lose sight of us or fall behind a great distance that they'll give up since nothing came after us when we arrived at your house." Weiss pointed out, Jaune rolled his eyes.

"Look, just be aware of your surroundings." Jaune said as he turned another corner and slowing down to look at an SUV that was parked in some poor sods living room.

"Yea guys keep any eye out; we already know Jaune's got his eye on the rear." Coco sniggered over the channel; he swore he heard Miriya and Claire cackling in the background. He sighed and tucked the walkie talkie back into his pocket and gripped the motorcycle handles with both hands.

As Jaune passed through the neighborhoods, he could see ruined homes, cars and the mangled forms of dead people strewn across the ground. However despite of all this, the more unnerving sight was the lack of activity.

Houses empty with not a single car or sign of activity from the living or the dead. It was as if everyone and everything had just vanished.

 **Ten Minutes Later…**

* * *

Jaune eased the bike to a stop, turning off the engine as he looked around him for any sign of movement. To his left was a back alley entrance to the plaza where delivery and garbage trucks go through to get to the shops.

Putting the kickstand down, and pulling his keys from the bike. He hopped off the bike, he pulled his Glock out. He reached up with his left hand and pulled the helmet off, as soon as the helmet cleared his head, he felt so relieved to have it off.

He took a deep breath and coughed a little, there was rather noticeable trace of smoke in the air.

The sound of car engines made him move into the center of the street, his Glock held at head as he looked around. In the distance the red truck, followed by Coco's car, Suns Jeep and the Mustang appeared. He slipped the helmet back on his head.

As they pulled to a stop in the middle of the road, the truck's engine was immediately cut and Qrow hopped out. The Stag rifle was already in his hands as he looked around as well.

The chances of them running into more zombies were high. The last time he was here there were dozens of people still trapped in the neighboring stores when they made their escape.

"So I assume we're not going to taking the cars in there?" Pyrrha asked as she hopped out of the truck. Jaune nodded as he saw that Ruby and Claire were still in the truck. He sighed a little in relief to see that, he really didn't want them to be outside the vehicles at the moment.

"Would it be wise to leave the vehicles like this in the middle of the road?" Ren asked as he, Yang, Sun, Coco, Neptune and Weiss joined them.

"No, but it'd be better if we didn't try to maneuver all the vehicles down the alley. There were zombies still around the area when Alexander and I had escaped." Qrow said as he looked towards the sky.

"Why not just move the cars around the entrance to act as a barrier while we send the truck in. You can use it to carry all the supplies to the other cars. Plus it'll be less taxing on us to carry the bags." Weiss suggested.

"That sounds like a plan." Sun said, as the other nodded. Qrow looked towards Jaune, who hadn't said anything. He was looking down the street; Qrow followed his gaze but could see nothing in the direction.

"Jaune, do you see anything?" Qrow asked he turned around and shook his head.

"Nothing so far, I'll go on ahead and open up the back entrance to the shop." Qrow nodded as Jaune started to jog towards the alleyway entrance. Jaune heard footsteps behind him and he looked over his shoulder to see Pyrrha, holding a bat.

"What? It's best if we work in pairs." Jaune nodded.

"Alright, but keep your eyes open. You see anything you call it out alright?" She nodded and the two continued down the alleyway. Jaune scanned either side of them, there wasn't any sign of movement but it paid to be cautious.

As they reached the other side, Jaune motioned Pyrrha to stop as he hugged the right side of the wall. Moving up to the edge he poked his head around the corner, aside from a few parked cars there was nothing. Looking in the other direction was the same situation.

He stepped forward with the Glock slightly raised as he double checked both directions. He motioned Pyrrha to follow him as they headed to the right, after passing several steel doors he finally stopped.

Pyrrha couldn't help but feel uneasy at being there. She'd imagine the place being empty like this at night but in the middle of broad daylight, it was even more eerie. Looking back at Jaune she could see him studying a digital lock next to a door.

"Jaune, you do know the password right?" Pyrrha asked.

"Of course, I'm just trying to remember how to use this device, was I supposed to hit the green button first or after I put in the password." He mused aloud to himself.

"What happens if you get it wrong?" Pyrrha asked.

"Oh, well a really loud alarm goes off and the Police are notified. Though they probably aren't going to care about this at the moment, but the sound will probably draw a bunch of zombies to us." Pyrrha snapped her head around at Jaune in time to see him punch in four digits and hit the green button. There was a chirped and he opened the door.

"Well lucky us." Jaune said, though Pyrrha couldn't see his face, she got the impression that he was toying with her. So she punched him in the arm, hard.

"Ow, what was that for?" Jaune asked as Pyrrha walked past him.

"Dick." Jaune sighed as he put down the door stop to leave it open for the others. Pyrrha waited for him to enter and take the lead. They were in the storage room of shop; Jaune immediately turned the flashlight attachment on the Glock on. He scanned the boxes till he saw the logo for freeze dried food and pointed at it.

"That's food, take it and leave it by the door for the others." He said Pyrrha set the bat down as she picked it up. Jaune reached out with his left arm and pulled a second box towards him but Pyrrha grabbed it from him.

"It's alright Jaune, I've got this just point out what I need to get." Jaune nodded.

"Alright, continue getting these and there are boxes with emergency water bags over there, and what looks to be boxes of MREs over there. The boxes with the water bags will be the most important one because we can't use half of this stuff without water." Jaune said, pointing out each item for Pyrrha to see with the flashlight.

"You guys in here?" Yang's voice called out as she, Sun and Blake appeared in the doorway.

"We're here Yang, where are the others?"

"Qrow's backing the truck up as we speak, he's gonna stick with the cars with Ren and Nora. Neptune's with Weiss, Ruby and your sister. They're going to watch the truck." Jaune nodded as he pointed at Pyrrha.

"Help Pyrrha with these boxes, she'll show you what we'll need. I'm going to go check the front of the store. Yang, Sun, I'll call you over when I'm done." Jaune didn't see their response as he already turned around and walked deeper into the building. Everywhere he looked he saw boxes labeled, clothes, bags, tools, utensils, books and a plethora of other things.

He saw a set of three doors at the far end of the storage room, one on the right, the other door on the left with the final door straight in front of him. The door on the right was marked with the word bathroom on it so he ignored it.

Instead he opened the door right in front of him, he stepped back as the door swung open. Nothing came charging out which was a good thing. Looking in he could see was that it was some kind of office room. Jaune turned to the door on his left; he gripped the handle and took a deep breath before opening it.

It revealed the main section of the store, he was behind the counter. The lights were also on; looking out into the room he didn't see anyone.

"The truck's in place." Qrow's voice came over the walkie talkie in Jaune's pocket. He winced at the sound, raising his Glock ready for anything to come charging him but there was nothing. He pulled the walkie talkie out of his pocket as Yang was telling Qrow that they've got supplies already waiting for him.

Jaune took off his helmet along with his travel backpack and set it on the counter then laid the walkie talkie next to them. He walked over to the racks in the middle of the store and spotted a bunch of tactical vests.

Looking down at his chest guard, he reckoned that he probably wouldn't need this anymore. Part of him thought it would be a good idea to keep it but another part felt that if he did keep it then it would be too bulky with the vest on. So he unbuckled it and set it on the ground.

Looking around he didn't see a lot of things that seemed good, so he settled on picking up a black Leaper tactical vest.

It already had a sidearm holster on it though, so it meant that he probably would have to abandon the shoulder holster he had on.

He sighed, no need to complicate thing, so he walked back to the counter and slipped the shoulder holster off. He picked the vest back up and pulled it over his head.

As soon as if was on his torso he patted the sides for any straps and found three straps on both sides. He pulled them until the vest was nice and snug but not too constraining or loose on him. He took the remaining Glock magazines from the shoulder holster and put them into the handgun magazine pouches.

Looking to his left he headed towards the main reason why he came to the front of the store. Across from him was the rack of shotgun and rifles, moving over to them he picked up two more Mossberg shotguns and was going to get a Remington.

However he noticed something on the lower shelves, it was another shotgun that was being held by two metal hooks. Jaune kneeled down and inspected it; it looked to be a cut down Mossberg shotgun. There was a sticky note on the wall next to it.

"Note to self; make room for new stock." Jaune muttered aloud, he noticed a tag at the end of the bird head stock. Lifting the tag up, he could see that it was a Mossberg 590 Shockwave.

"Fuck it, I call dibs." He lifted it off the hooks and stood up, taking off the tag, he set it next to the other shotguns. He reached into his jeans and picked up the walkie talkie.

"How are the supplies going?" He asked as he walked back to the middle of the store and started looking for more of those bags his father had used.

"We've got four boxes of freeze dried goodies, four boxes of MREs and six boxes of these emergency water bags." Weiss replied.

"Do we need anymore?" Coco's voice came over the channel.

"I think it's better to be over stocked than under stocked to be honest." Jaune replied.

"Fair enough."

"Jaune, how's the store looking?" Yang asked.

"It's seems safe, I'm going to start stocking up on ammo and guns. Neptune, Sun you both said you can use guns so I'm going to need you to come over here one at a time to pick a gun and take supplies with you. First will be Neptune, Sun you can continue to help Pyrrha while Yang sticks with Weiss by the truck." Jaune said before releasing the send button.

Jaune quickly jogged back towards the middle of the store looking for more of those bags his father had used. He finally spotted them and grabbed an arm full of bags and carried them back to the counter.

He started picking up boxes of twelve gauge and slug rounds and tossing them into one bag. He got tired of doing that so instead he picked the bag up and held it open on one end then with his other arm he scoop the entire pile of shells into it. Looking into the bag he reckoned there must be at least eight or nine dozen boxes containing twelve shotgun shells.

Closing the bag he set it on the counter next to the shotguns and opened the clear plastic case that held the handguns. He picked up two more Glocks, another Sig Sauer P226, and three Berettas 92FS.

Like before he held the bag up and just piled as many boxes of nine millimeter rounds. Jaune only stopped pulling down stacks of ammunition boxes when they wouldn't fit into the bag without force.

"Jaune? You in here? Please tell me you're not a zombie." Neptune voice called out and a blue hair teen's head peered out of the doorway.

"Yes Neptune, I am a zombie, though you'll be safe since you don't have any brains to eat."

"Ha. Ha. You should be a comedian." Neptune said as he stepped into the room and looked around in awe.

"Holy crap, this is amazing." Jaune pointed with his thumb back towards the racks where he got his vest from.

"Grab something from there then pick a shotgun only because there aren't any magazines already prepped for use."

"Damn, that's gonna be a problem isn't it?" He called out as he headed towards the racks.

"Yup, that pretty much means until we get the chance to start loading the magazines, none of the rifles or handguns or rifles are going to be useful. Though the bolt action rifles might still be used because we can just chamber a round manually but that isn't going to be much use since we're on the move." Neptune walked out with a grey seven pouch chest rig and walked over to the assembled shotguns.

"Whoa dude what's this?" Neptune asked and Jaune turned to see him holding the Mossberg Shockwave.

"Dibs."

"Dibs?"

"Yea dibs, I'm going to use that one." Neptune made a face but Jaune ignored it, instead turning back to the assembled rifles in front of him.

"Aw man, come on. Look at this thing! It's so cool."

"I know hence why I'm taking it."

"Fine, I'm taking that then." Jaune saw in the corner of his eye, Neptune coming around the counter and picking up a Spas-12 shotgun.

"Alright fine but make sure to put some shotgun shells into your chest rig." He gave a mock salute to Jaune.

"Yes fearless leader." Jaune sighed.

"Please don't call me that." Neptune laughed as he picked up another shotgun shell box from the counter and dumped it into the pouches. After he was done loading both his chest rig and shotgun with ammo he picked up the handgun bag and the shotgun ammunition.

"Don't forget to send Sun in when you're out there." Jaune called out, he didn't know if Neptune heard him or not. Shaking his head he turned back to the racks and picked up three M40 rifles. Thankfully they already came with Vortex Optic Viper rifle scope so he didn't need to worry about finding a scope for it.

Jaune picked up another bag and went to the hardware section of the store and to the best of his memory of what his father taught him, he grab three all-purpose cleaning kits for firearms.

As he set the bag on the counter he looked towards the plastic cabinet on the wall. There were the Stag Model 3s and 10s along with the Adaptive Combat Rifles.

"Sup dude." Sun called out from behind, Jaune felt ice go down his back. He didn't even hear him come in, if it was a zombie or a bandit he'd be dead.

"You okay Jaune? You look a little pale." Jaune turned and flashed a forced smile.

"I'm fine, I was just thinking is all." Sun didn't look wholly convinced but shrugged.

"Well, Nep says I should get a vest or something then pick a gun?"

"Yea, pick a shotgun specifically since we don't have any magazines ready for us."

"Cool." He said and wandered off towards the center of the store. Jaune stepped over to the cabinet and opened it. Normally it would be locked but it seemed his dad forgot to lock it when he left. He reached out, grabbing two Model 3 rifles and set them aside, followed by another Model 10 rifle.

He went back to the counter and grabbed an empty bag. He placed the rifles inside of the bag then scooped every box of five point five six millimeter rounds he could see along with the empty magazines for both models.

Sun came out from behind the rack wearing a similar vest like his. Looking at the assembled shotguns he picked up a Remington 870 shotgun.

"Load up on shells, then do me a favor and put those bolt action rifles in a bag then look for all the .308 Winchester rounds you can find and dump them in as well. After that I think I'm done here, now we can have Yang and Pyrrha come and pick what they want." Sun nodded then looked confused.

"Wait, why not Velvet also?" Jaune grimaced.

"I mean sure she says she knows how to use a .22 but we don't have anything that's like that. Plus she doesn't actually look that strong, so until I can see that she can handle herself I think I'll refrain from letting her have a gun."

"Then why are you letting Pyrrha come and get geared up?" Jaune waved his hand dismissively.

"Because I know she's got the strength to carry the load so she gets the gear plus she already asked me to help her shoot."

"So you're gonna give her lessons now?" Sun asked incredulously.

"I mean just a dry run exercise really." Sun just stared at him.

"Shut up and stuff that bag." Sun chuckled as he shook his head. The two of them filled their bags up, there were more empty bags on the counter but Jaune left them for the girls as he put on his travel backpack. Though he quickly filled three of the pouches on his vest with some twelve gauge shells and loaded Mossberg Shockwave.

Picking up his helmet, he slipped it back on before grabbing the bag with the Stag rifles. Just as he was about to leave he heard something, it was a thumping sound from somewhere. He stopped and listened but there was nothing, was he imagining it?

Shaking his head he walked into the storage area, there he could see that they had taken quite a few boxes with them.

As they stepped out Jaune could see Yang, Pyrrha and Weiss standing by the truck.

"You can go in now. Though we've got handguns and rifles along with plenty of ammo, however you should just get a shotgun with a chest rig or vest."

"I've already got this though." Yang said as she held onto the Mossberg.

"Well then you just need a vest or rig set then to load up on some extra ammo." Pyrrha looked confused.

"Wait, what should I do?" Jaune looked at her as he placed his bag into the truck bed.

"Alright Pyrrha, look for a section with things that look like this." He gestured to what he wore and what Neptune wore.

"Make sure it's not too big or small and fits snug on you. Then go over to the counter and find a shotgun that you want to learn how to use; Yang can help you pick one out. After that take whatever 12 gauge box you can find, open it and put it in whatever the pouches of your chest rig or vest." She looked confused, Jaune sighed.

"Just listen to Yang." Yang simply laughed at Jaune, patting him on the back before leading Pyrrha to the store. He turned to look at the truck; there were now six boxes labeled freeze dried food, six MRE boxes and eight boxes of water bags. Along with the bags of handguns, shotguns, M40 rifles, Stag rifles and cleaning kits.

"So now we've got to spread out all this stuff into the other cars but I don't think we'll be able to move around the boxes a lot." Weiss said as they looked over the truck bed.

"She's right; I can probably fit three maybe four boxes into my jeep before it gets too cramped." Sun said, Neptune scratched his head in thought.

"Why not just tie it down." Everyone looked at him.

"That's not a bad idea actually, do we have any rope?" Jaune jumped a little as he recalled that he saw rope in the supplies that his dad and Qrow had brought.

"We've got some rope actually. Where are the supplies that Qrow brought with my dad?" Jaune said turning to Weiss.

"I think we put them Coco's car." Jaune nodded as he stepped past her then turned around.

"Oh yea, someone go back inside and see if you can find duct tape or more rope." Jaune called out before jogging down the alleyway. He could see Qrow standing at the far side with the Stag rifle in his hands. He turned towards him as Jaune got closer to him.

"Something wrong?" Qrow asked raising the rifle slightly and looking over his shoulder. Jaune shook his head.

"No, I just need some rope." Qrow looked confused.

"We need it to tie down the boxes in the truck, we've got a lot of them and they're too big to be spread out in the other cars properly." Qrow nodded and turned away to go back to watching their surroundings. Jaune walked up to Coco and Velvet who were sitting on the hood of Coco's car.

"Hey Coco." Jaune called out, making sure not to speak too loud since they were in the street, she turned to face him.

"Sup Jaune, you guys almost done?" Jaune nodded.

"Can you open the trunk of your car; I need to find something from the supplies Qrow and my dad brought." She nodded and hopped off the hood.

"Sure, what is it that you need?" She asked as she popped open the trunk of the car, Jaune reached in opening each bag and rummaging through quickly. He stood up straight holding a bundle of rope.

"This, we need it to tie down the boxes in the truck." Coco just shrugged.

"So how long are we gonna be here?" Jaune thought about it for a moment.

"Probably a little while more, Yang and Pyrrha are getting some gear out of the shop then we've got to spread what supplies we've gathered amongst the cars." Coco nodded as she walked back to sit with Velvet. Jaune turned around and headed back down the alley.

As he reached the truck he saw that Yang and Pyrrha were back as well. Yang was wearing an Omega cross draw vest and interestingly enough around her torso was a shotgun bandoleer filled with shells.

"Sup Jaune." Yang said as he joined reached, he didn't say anything as he tried to make sense of what he was seeing. He handed Sun the rope so he and Neptune can begin tying down the boxes in the truck.

"Like what you see?" She asked.

"Confused would probably be a better word." He said.

"That's not nice."

"Yang, why do you have a bandoleer when you've got a vest on?" She shrugged.

"Cause it looks cool." Jaune didn't say anything as he turned to Pyrrha who wore a similar vest to his. Resting on one of the boxes was a Mossberg 500, he beckoned her over.

"Alright Pyrrha I'mma teach you some basics rules about using this shotgun." He said as he took up the shotgun, he showed her the top of the shotgun where there was a switch.

"Alright this is the safety, right now it's on but if you push it forward the safety will be off and you can fire. If you see the red dot, which means it's hot, as in it will fire whatever is in the chamber." He demonstrated by pushing the switch forward showing the red dot on the back before pressing it back down.

As Jaune was busy giving Pyrrha a run down on the features and how to fire the shotgun, Qrow was standing in the street with most of the group. Ren and Nora stood to either side while the Arc girls were chatting with Coco in Sun's jeep when he heard the loud whirl of a helicopter in the distance.

He looked around to see if anything was coming out of hiding but there was nothing.

"Anyone who can hear this, this is the National Guard. By order of the Vale Council the city is to be evacuated. Do not stay in your home, no matter how safe, evacuate immediately." Some voice blared out, the helicopter continued circling the area at a low altitude, before flying over them once move to the west.

"What was that?" Ruby called out from the jeep.

"Don't worry it was just the National Guard stating the obvious." Qrow answered back when he looked at Ruby he saw something that made his blood run cold.

He could see past Ruby the mauled body of woman. Qrow raised his rifle in his hands and sidestepped to the right of the jeep. An older woman in sweatpants and a sweater on top stood on the opposite side of the street.

The skin on her left cheek was missing and blood stained her right arm chewed up. Qrow gestured with one hand for Ruby to get inside. He could hear Coco and Velvet scrambling back into their car. Ren and Nora took up position to either side of him.

He lined up the sights on the zombie. In the corner of his eye he could see more of them appearing in the street.

To make it worse was the fact they were running in their direction. At least he thought they were running until someone used the radio.

"Did anyone see where that went?" Weiss voice came over the radio; Qrow felt a cold sweat break out on his forehead when the woman snapped her head towards him. A loud guttural sound came from her as she opened her mouth and started to run at him.

Qrow did the only thing he could think of and fired three rounds into her chest. She flopped onto the ground and as the echoes died down, he could hear a much louder sound, similar to that the woman made. It was the oncoming group, they knew they were there. Qrow pulled the walkie talkie out with his left hand.

"Get the truck out here, we got to go now!" He didn't bother waiting for a reply as he stepped out into the street and started firing in short bursts. He emptied the magazine and quickly exchanged it for another one before pulling the charging handle back then resumed firing.

He could hear the truck coming closer and voices calling out for him to get to the truck. Jaune, Yang, and Sun stepped out to his left. Jaune had a cut down shotgun strapped to the side of his backpack; he was firing with his Glock.

While Yang and Sun were firing with the shotguns, though they were much less effect at the current range that Qrow doubt they actually hit anything.

"Get ready to move!" Jaune shouted as he ejected a magazine from his handgun and quickly slammed home a new one. Yang and Sun immediately stopped firing and returned to their respective cars, while he made his way over to Qrow. The two of them firing their weapons at the oncoming mass of undead, Jaune get see that they were less than two hundred yards away.

"Qrow! Get in the truck! We're moving on with the plan!" He yelled, Qrow stopped firing and stepped behind Jaune as he ran towards the truck. Coco, Sun, and Yang had already moved their cars out of the way.

"Jaune! Get on your bike Jaune!" He thought he heard Pyrrha screaming, whoever said it though had a good idea as he finally stopped firing. Running to his bike, he hopped on and fumbled for his keys to get into the ignition.

Glancing up he could see dozens of them zeroing in on him, he turned the key and the bike started. He frantically put up the kickstand and hit the throttle in first gear. Revving the bike as he spun around he could see the others were already disappearing around a corner.

Jaune could hear the thunderous footsteps closing behind him as he shot down the street shifting gears as he picked up speed. Though it wasn't over as he could see dozens of more zombies coming out onto the streets where there had been none.

"Where the fuck did all of you come from!?" Jaune shouted aloud as he leaned left and right to avoid hitting the zombies.

Everywhere he looked he briefly could see nothing but the faces of the damned seeming to stare at him with glazed over eyes or no eyes at all for a few. Looking ahead he could barely see the others as they sped off ahead of him.

That would require more speed but that hampers his ability to make tight turns to avoid hitting abandoned cars or the dead. Thankfully he knew where they were going.

Jaune's knuckles ached as he gripped the handlebar of his bike, leaning heavily to his left he finally made the turn onto Peterson. He almost regretted suggesting taking this road, on both sides of the road abandoned cars dotted the landscape.

However some of the cars still had their occupants in them, their broken fingers or ravaged hands reaching out from their windows in vain attempts to get any living creature nearby. Looking around he couldn't see the others, nor did he have a chance to raise them on his walkie talkie as more zombies noticed him.

"Fuck me." Jaune said through gritted teeth as he sped down the road between cars a few hands reached out for him but none were able to grab hold of him. Sweat beaded his face as he looked around for any of the others but he couldn't see any of them.

Another helicopter passed over heard as Jaune made his way down road causing his heart to stop as he expected more Zombies to come chasing after it. However that didn't happen this time, which made him think, was it not low enough to the ground to gain their attention or was it because no one was talking?

Answers for another time he supposed, quickly looking up at the sky, he could see that the sun was past its zenith. How long have they been out here? He honestly didn't know at this point as he focused back on navigating the road.

After what seemed like forever Jaune finally stopped at the bridge that was over the highway, he could see the onramp to the highway was clear. It was then that he realized that the others hadn't come this way.

He reached into his front pocket and pulled out the radio. Looking around quickly to make sure nothing was nearby to him, he pressed the send button.

"Hello?" There was nothing, he pressed it again.

"Guys, it's me, Jaune, can anyone hear me?" Again there was nothing. Did this mean they were out of range? If they were out of range where did they go? He knew that they had gone somewhat in this direction; he looked over his shoulder back towards the city.

Then again, they could have either gone to the left or right at some point to find a better path to the highway. Speaking of which he looked at the highway and saw that it was surprisingly empty all things considering. He'd figure that it would be packed bumper to bumper with cars.

As he looked over the highway he finally saw why it was so empty. Looking to the west where the highway curved to the right into Vale Jaune could see a massive pile up on the road. Dozens of cars were smashed together or into a large eighteen wheeler that had apparently flipped sideways blocking the road.

Jaune put the kickstand down and stepped off it. There wasn't as many cars on the bridge like the road so he felt somewhat more comfortable being on his feet. Looking down he made sure that he had easy reach to the Glock in case something did charge him.

He wasn't sure what to do; he looked around at some of the empty cars with their doors left open as whoever was in them abandoned them. He looked into a few to see if anything was useful either there was nothing in them or just useless items like a brief case or purse. These people must have been morning commuters heading to work.

He tested the radio again but there was no response. Jaune climbed onto the roof of a nearby SUV to see if he could help the signal range.

"Hello?" Jaune asked into the walkie talkie but once again there was nothing. He sighed; he hoped nothing bad had happened to them. Sliding off the SUV he walked back towards his bike, turning it off and pulling the keys out. He sat down next to his bike and waited.

 **Sometime Later…**

* * *

Jaune was inspecting how much fuel he had left when he heard something. Looking around he didn't see anything but pulled out his Glock anyways. Looking down at the highway, he saw a small group of cars heading away from the bridge.

"That must be them." He muttered to himself, he didn't actually know if it really was them but any reason not to stay on that bridge was a welcome one. He quickly hopped on his bike, turning it on and pushed forward, taking the ramp onto the highway.

He smiled inside his helmet at being on the open highway because there weren't a lot of obstacles to get in his way. Leaning forward he hit the throttle and shot forward, shifting to fifth gear. The wind roared in his face as he drove down the highway. He could see the rear car and it looked like Qrow's Mustang.

As Jaune closed in on it, he felt elation to know that it was indeed Qrow's car, pulling up next to it, Jaune shifted back to third gear to keep pace. Looking to the left he frowned as he saw Velvet sitting next to Yang, she was supposed to be with Coco.

Jaune dropped off a little to get behind the Mustang and pulled up to the driver side to see Yang focusing intently on the road. As he leveled off with her, she turned to look at him with a mixture of emotions was on her face when she looked at him.

Jaune frowned as she looked away from him and focused on driving. Jaune wasn't sure what to think as he sped up to look for Coco's car. However she wasn't there, there was only the truck, Sun's jeep and the Mustang.

They continued down the highway for a little while, until they finally started reaching the outskirts of Vale. Walled off communities could be seen on either side, though it must not have helped since Jaune could see more than a few clouds of black smoke rolling into the sky.

Jaune looked back at the three cars and finally decided to pull ahead of Qrow, using his signals to get the man to start pulling over. Jaune slowed down his bike and eased it to the side of the road where the paved ground turned to a dirt path.

He finally stopped, looking down he winced to see that he barely had any fuel left. Putting the kickstand down, he stepped off his bike and pulled his helmet off, setting it on the seat. Turning to the other cars he stood patiently as they all came to a stop.

Jaune felt that what he was about to hear was not something he would like. As the doors on the cars opened up and everyone started to step out, Jaune made his way over to them

"Good to see you're still alive Jaune." Qrow said as Jaune approached him but Jaune wasn't up for small chat really.

"Where are they?" Jaune asked Qrow could see his face was set in knowing. Qrow opened and closed his mouth a few times before coughing softly.

"They're gone." As much as Jaune expected to hear that it still hurt his heart to hear it confirmed. A lump formed in his throat and he found it difficult to talk.

"How did it happen?" Nora and Ren appeared on Jaune's left, he could see that they weren't fairing so well. Ren stepped towards Jaune, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Jaune, you're gonna wanna sit down." Jaune screwed his eyes shut, trying to control himself.

"Please Ren, what happened." Ren hesitated a little before answering.

"When we made it to Peterson, we found out that the beginning section was too packed with cars for us to get through. So it was decided on the fly that we would find a different path. We tried to tell you but apparently the walkie talkies couldn't reach you to let you know what we were doing. Pyrrha wanted to stay put and wait for you but the zombies were starting to swarm us so we decided to get out of there to not only draw them off but to prevent them from breaking into the vehicles. The problem however was that Coco took a sharp turn with too much speed and she rolled her car hard. Yang who was bringing up the rear was the first to respond, she found Coco and your sisters dead. Velvet was still alive, barely though, she's pretty banged up." Jaune tuned out the rest of what Ren said, everything seemed to be spinning and he wasn't sure if he was still standing, moving or sitting.

The next thing he knew was Ren and Nora were propping him up by the shoulders. Pyrrha was also now standing in front of him, her hands on his cheeks. He couldn't help but notice how cool her hands were on his face. He blinked as he stood up straight under his own power, Ren and Nora stepping back but still close by just in case.

"Thanks." He said simply as he scratched the back of his head. Everything was so messed up; just a few days ago he would be either in school trying to stay awake during class or at home relaxing without a care in the world.

Now almost half of his family was dead with another three missing, he didn't how Katherine, Mina, or Sepherina were holding up.

Blake appeared from the other side of the truck; they turned to look at her and could see the worry evident on her face.

"What's a matter Blake?" Jaune asked as Blake took a shaky breath.

"It's Velvet, she's not waking up." Jaune looked at Pyrrha, Ren and Nora before jogging after Blake. The four of them came up on the group. Jaune could see Qrow kneeling over Velvet who was lying on the ground. When Jaune saw how banged up Velvet was he was surprised that she even made it this far.

The right side of her face was black and blue from bruises with her eye swollen shut. There was a noticeable red stained bandage that was wrapped around her forehead. Her right hand was bound up but Jaune could see that even more bruises were covered her arm.

On top of he could see several lacerations that probably came from glass shards of their crash covering her face and arms. He had no doubt that there was probably more going on than he could see. Qrow stood up, running a hand through his hair; he looked at the assembled group and shook his head.

"She's done for." Qrow said simply Weiss looked up at him. Ruby grabbed hold of Yang and Sun placed his arm around Blake drawing her into a hug. Nora grabbed Ren's hand while Neptune put a hand on Weiss shoulder as she struggled to understand what he meant.

"What do you mean?" Qrow pointed to her head.

"Well for one she stopped breathing a while ago. Something tells me that bruising that bad on her is a good indicator for head trauma and from that internal bleeding. In which case none of us are medically trained doctors to be able to have noticed it in the first place nor did we have the means to treat something like that." Jaune however stopped paying attention and was looking around for Helena but she wasn't with them.

"Where's Helena?" Pyrrha pointed back to the truck.

"In there she hasn't responded to any of us." Jaune nodded as he left the group to go to the truck. He opened the back door to see Helena staring blankly at the floor.

"Helena?" Jaune said softly but she didn't respond.

"Helena it's me, Jaune."

"Jaune?" She croaked softly as if she didn't have to will to truly believe it.

"Yes, it's me, I'm here."

"Jaune…" She said again but she didn't lift her head, instead she continued to stare down to the floor. Jaune wasn't sure what to say at this point so he closed the door and backed away turning only to see Pyrrha standing in front of him.

"How is she?" Pyrrha asked but Jaune just shook his head.

"She's been through a lot; let's just not talk about it for now." Jaune said as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Pyrrha placed a hand on his shoulder and he looked up at her.

"We're here for you Jaune."

"Thanks Pyrrha." He said before turning to the others and walking over to join them. When they joined the others he could see everyone standing around staring at Velvet's still body.

"How is she?" Ruby asked as she looked at Jaune he shook his head.

"She's not responding to me either, I think it's probably best if we leave her alone for now to get it sorted out." Jaune said as Qrow looked at him now.

"So now that you're here again, what's the plan?" Jaune was staring at Velvet's body a jacket was draped over her head when he realized that everyone was looking at him.

"Why's everyone looking at me?"

"Cause you're the man with the plan." Sun said Jaune blinked at that.

"I'm pretty sure everyone here is a capable of coming up with a plan as well." This time Neptune shook his head.

"Sure but we trust yours more." Jaune just looked at him confused till Weiss sighed in irritation.

"Jaune, we voted to make you leader, now pick a plan already you oaf." There was a collectively chuckle at that which thoroughly confused Jaune. He looked at everyone to see them looking at him, he sighed.

"We'll continue with the plan as before. Along the way keep an eye out for any gas stations, something tells me we're gonna need extra fuel on hand. Also now would be the time to split up the weapons and ammo. Neptune takes the bag with the Stag rifles, I'll take the handgun bag and Ruby gets the bag with the M40 rifles." Ruby looked up at him in surprise.

"Me?" Jaune nodded.

"Yea, Yang talked about how good you are with a rifle so you'll be in charge of loading their magazines. Plus one of the rifles is yours to use, though make sure to hand a couple of the .308 boxes to Neptune. The Stag Model 10 uses those same rounds." Ruby beamed a smile of pure joy as she jumped him.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" She repeated over and over again as she squeezed him.

"Ack! Ruby! Let go!" Jaune said as he tried to maintain his balance. The younger girl let go of him and looked a little abashed but Jaune had the feeling she didn't regret that. There was a faint rumble like thunder in the distance however no one paid it any attention.

Jaune looked around the group to see them smiling or looking contently at him, even Weiss looked somewhat less stern. Or at least he thought so; he wasn't sure nor was he crazy enough to bring it up. Qrow however was looking at Vale; Jaune frowned as he followed his gaze

In the distance he could see dozens of oily black smoke clouds polluting the sky above Vale. The occasional helicopter could be seen doing a low sweep of the city, no doubt relaying the message they heard earlier.

Which brought the thought of who thought it was necessary for that message to be relayed now? Had something changed in the grand scheme of things that made the Government feel the need to tell people to evacuate Vale?

Someone tapped him on the shoulder and he turned to see Yang holding one of the bags they used from his dad's shop.

"You said you wanted the handgun bag right?" She held it up to him.

"Yea I'd figured I'd start loading some magazines while you drive." It was slightly cathartic for Jaune to see surprise on someone else's face when something unexpected happens to them.

"Excuse me?" Jaune shrugged as a smile spread across his face.

"What? My bike doesn't have enough fuel to make it anywhere so I figured I would just hitch a ride with you." Yang just nodded slowly.

"Is there a problem?" He asked, a little more curious to see what was going on in her mind.

"Oh, uh, nothing I was just thinking you'd would want to ride with your sister or something." Jaune nodded as it was a valid point.

"I suppose it would be a good idea." He mused aloud but Yang ended that thought quickly.

"Ah, no never mind what I said, you can ride _shotgun_ with me." She said with a grin as she patted the Mossberg that was slung over her. Then quickly grabbed him by the arm and started to pull him towards the Mustang while Jaune blanched.

"God help me."

Pyrrha watched as Jaune got into the Mustang with Yang and for some reason felt a pang of regret reverberate through her at seeing that. It wasn't an unreasonable seating arrangement, the Mustang had room for another person while the other two vehicles were either packed or close to packed.

Yet it felt odd to see him of all people go to her for that, Yang could have easily just had Ruby come and sit with her. No, she wanted Jaune to come and ride in a car alone for who knows how long they were gonna be traveling.

"Pyrrha? You coming?" Neptune asked as he helped Weiss into Sun's jeep. She didn't look directly at him, instead simply got wordlessly into the jeep.

* * *

 **Fuck this took me forever to get out, so I'm incredibly sorry about that.**

 **You may proceed to tear me a new one on the wait time.**

 **Anyways, I hope you liked that little moment between Ren and Nora. That was my first attempt at a scene like that, well, at least in a story that is.**

 **I honestly don't have much to say at the moment, cause I'm rushing this as I type since I gotta head down to L.A. which is gonna be a bitch of a road trip.**

 **So as always feel free to leave a comment on what you thought of the chapter, whether it was good or bad or you just want me to start writing nothing but lemon next chapter or no lemon at all.**

 **Anyways I hope you enjoyed it, till next time.**

* * *

 **Note: Any Pancakes that were harmed in the making of this Chapter were thoroughly compensated...**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Wait!" The man didn't get any farther as he turned to face her, horror evident in his eyes.

Mina Arc already had her service pistol aimed at his head, she pulled the trigger. The Glock 19 bucked slightly in her hands.

Blood splatted on the white wall of the cafeteria in front of them as the bullet tore through his forehead and out the back of his skull. The body slumped to the ground and Mina took a deep breath to calm down.

"Mina!? You here?" A gruff voice called out and she turned to see a man with a black crew cut enter the cafeteria holding a M4A1 Carbine, equipped with a tactical light, a Zeiss Z-Point Reflex Sight and an angled foregrip.

He used to wear a helmet but he had lost it after using it to bash a woman's skull in a few hours ago. Other than that she could still tell that he was wearing the black Banshee Plate Carrier of Valean Special Tactics and Rescue.

Some people have taken to calling them the Visitors in response to the acronym of their name being VSTR. How people could come up with a name like that based on only four letters was beyond her.

"What's up Derrick?" She asked as she turned to look at him, holstering her sidearm.

Mina was wearing her standard street uniform but also had on a black Voodoo Tactical armor carrier vest on. It had three handgun pouches on her left and right side which held two magazines for each pouch.

Above the handgun magazine pouches were two shell pouches for shotgun rounds with the word, police, strapped above it in the center of the vest. Each pouch only held about six rounds a piece though so she needed to find something to help augment her shell bearing capability.

There was also her kit belt around her waist which held most of her standard street gear. Aside from the handgun holster it held things such as pepper spray, her Taser, handcuffs, note book, flashlight, baton holder, radio pouch, and more magazine holders.

However when things started looking bad she had ditched most of it, only keeping the radio, flashlight, baton and the handgun magazine holders. Though she had lost the baton a while back when the first melee she was a part of with the zombies turned into a rout for the Vale Police.

She could still remember seeing dozens of fellow officers dragged down before she or anyone else was able to reach the secondary line. There she watched as the order was given to open fire, a sight that she doubt she ever forget for however long she may live.

She had also picked up a pair of hard shell knee, shin, and forearm guards sometime after that to help protect her from unseen dangers. Mina picked up her M4 tactical shotgun, double checking to make sure it was load before turning to Derrick.

Derrick was a part of the group she was in, roughly numbering about three dozen officers which weren't lucky enough to make it back to the third line of control that the Government had set up in the early morning.

They were just trying to make it out of the city and hopefully swing back north but so far the best route they could find was sending them south east. Though Mina didn't really care about getting back to North, she needed to get home and find her family.

She knows her dad is a smart and well prepared person so he would be able to take care of the family. Jaune was also pretty capable in handling himself as well but the two of them protecting Helena, Miriya, Claire, Nessa and their mom would be a tough challenge.

Though there was also the chance of Nora and Ren joining them along with Ren's mom. Nora would be a good addition of strength, while Ren would be an incredible calm and intelligent person to have. So maybe that would help them.

Either way, she wasn't going to stick around with the others once they were clear of the city.

"Karen and Tanner found a stairwell that wasn't blocked that leads outside. Murayama, Oscar and Shaw report that the south looks clear at the moment, the only zombies nearby are already in the building with us." Derrick said before he glanced over at the fresh corpse and sighed. Mina following his line of sight nodded slowly as she rubbed her mouth with one hand.

"It was what he wanted." Mina said simply before stepping past Derrick. Mina could hear him sighing again before following her and in the corner of her eye he walked beside her as they entered the hallway.

It was a pale white hallway with dim fluorescent lighting, the kind that most people would dread seeing. Mainly since they normally associated it with the dead end cubicle jobs that the youth feared ending up in.

As she passed an open door, she looked in to see several torn up bodies of office workers. It was funny in a twisted sense that these people in their dead end jobs ultimately ended up dead.

As they turned a corner reaching the main elevators Mina could see several more police officers sitting around. These men and women who had spent their lives on the streets dealing day in and day out with the scum of mankind looked more broken than ever before.

It might have to do with the fact there was far more of them earlier. Prior to taking shelter in this building they ran into a group of zombies. The ensuing storm of a running gunfight in the middle of an open street near a mall three miles west of them only drew more zombies.

All of them knew that they could either try getting into the mall to try and funnel them but they would also have to contend with whatever was already in there. Or they could try finding a suitable building to lose the oncoming mass of undead.

So they made it to the office buildings, taking shelter in the first one they could reach. By that point they had also lost several people. Entering the office building however was almost as bad, as the moment they stepped inside, every zombie in the building knew they were there.

Having to fight the undead in close corridors with an ever increasing horde outside piling through the glass front doors behind them was a nightmare. By the time they were able to make it to the elevators and reach the top floor there was only sixteen left.

Though there were now only fifteen of them. Since she had lead Gordon away from the group so she could dispose of him alone.

She had told everyone else that she was gonna take him with her to find something to try to stem the bleeding and maybe the infection. Though she, and maybe even the others knew that that wasn't going to happen.

"How much ammunition do we have left?" Derrick called out, and the assembled officers began to check their gear. Most were just regular street officers, while a few were outfitted like Derrick. The collective might of the group was mostly handguns of various types, a few Mossberg 500s and her M4.

As for the other VSTR members, there were three M4A1 carbines including Derricks. Murayama had a Remington 700 rifle and Tanner had a KRISS Vector outfitted to use nine by nineteen Parabellum rounds.

As the assembled officers checked how much ammo they collectively had. A short woman with red hair walked into the room with a taller pale bald man behind her.

Though the woman wasn't that short, she was five foot six. Which wasn't short, it was just shorter than Mina, who was six foot two.

"So Karen, you two found a staircase we can use to get out of this hellhole?" The shorter woman nodded.

"We even walked all the way down; it leads exits on the south side of the cafeteria. There weren't any zombies down there but we can hear them so it'll still be dangerous." Mina nodded before pointing to the holstered sidearm.

"How much ammo do you have?" Karen looked down at her belt and patted the magazine pouches.

"I've got four spares left, why you got any to spare?" Mina checked her own pouches.

"What caliber do you use?"

".45 ACP." Mina clicked her tongue.

"Sorry, I use 9mm." Mina looked up at Tanner, Karen's ever present silent partner.

In the months that Mina has gotten to know him since she graduated the police academy. She could count how many sentences he's spoken to her not relating to work on both hands since she joined the department.

"What about you Tanner, need any ammo for that thing?" She asked pointing to the Vector hooked to his vest but the man simply shook his head.

"Fair enough." She said as Derrick clapped his hands drawing everyone's attention. Mina turned around and could see that Murayama, Shaw and Oscar had arrived; meaning everyone still alive was there.

"Alright folks, we can't stay here forever and since it's going to get dark soon I rather not be forced to wait in this fucking building until tomorrow to move. So lock and load we're going back out through the way Karen and Tanner found. It's an emergency exit that takes us all the way to the ground floor by the cafeteria but make no mistake we're not there to raid the food stock. There's going to be a lot of them down there so stay focused." One officer raised her hand.

"R.O.E?" Derrick snorted at the question.

"Shoot to kill after that run like fucking hell. Anymore questions?" Derrick asked looking around at the assembled officers then nodded to himself.

"Alright let's move."

* * *

 **Five Minutes Later…**

Mina stood to the right side of the door, her left hand on the door handle. Opposite of her was Derrick, Tanner, and the other VSTR members followed by the other officers that end with Murayama. His rifle was ill suited for indoors activity so he was relying on his sidearm.

Derrick nodded to Mina and she held up three fingers, and then began a countdown. As her hand closed into a fist, she opened the door. Derrick was first through the door immediately covering the left hallway with his weapon readied; Tanner moved second covering Derrick's back and the right hallway.

The police officer slowly filed out of the emergency staircase, Mina bringing up the rear as Murayama cleared the doorway. Derrick and two other VSTR members were covering the left hallway which led deeper into the building.

Mina swallowed slightly as she could hear the rasping moans of the undead. She followed the slow moving group of officers as they made their way down the hallway.

The officers were lined up on either side; each corner was quickly checked to make sure it was clear by the first two officers. While the other officers leaped frogged past them to continue down the hallway.

Derrick and the other two VSTR members brought up the rear of the collective group. As soon as they cleared the officers guarding the side passages they would move to regroup in the rear of officers that had passed them.

It was grueling to move through the building, more than a few times they've come across the aftermath of the carnage that took place in the building. Blood was either pooled on the floor or splattered on the wall, scraps of bloody flesh and meat was scattered along with the belongings of those that tried to run.

The group took a left and Mina could see at the far end of the hallway was a set of glass double doors with an exit sign above it. Elation filled her heart at knowing they were so close at escaping the building.

Sadly it was shattered then the sound of a Glock 22 going off. She whipped her head around to see two of the officers guarding the side passages firing their service pistols down the hallway.

She couldn't see what it was they were shooting it but the fact that they haven't stopped firing meant that it wasn't good at all.

"Run!" Someone shouted Mina could practically feel the stampeding vibration of dozens upon dozens of feet running. The calls of the undead echoing the hallways, she checked her M4 and turned to see Karen standing with next to her.

"Let's get the fuck out of here." She said Mina didn't say anything as she took off running towards the exit. A few of the other officers that were close to it had already left the building. Rifle fire erupted behind them; Mina looked over her shoulder to see Derrick and the other V.S.T.R members unloading into a mass of running zombies.

She looked ahead and reached out with one hand to push open a door. Once outside she realized that things weren't great out here as well. Of the eight officers that had went outside, she could see five of them were surrounding by the undead in various stages of being ripped apart.

To her right she could see the woman from earlier that asked about rules of engagement trying to crawl away as she begged for her life. She wasn't going anywhere though as a trio of zombies had her by the legs, two of them as already torn her pants and were sinking their teeth into her calves.

The third reached up and gripped her by the shoulders as it leaned forward and chomped down on her ear. She screamed loudly as it pulled away taking her ear with it.

Mina turned away as she headed down the steps and out into the parking lot. Karen was still with her, occasionally fire a shot or two at nearby zombie but Mina didn't bother firing as a few more zombies piled into the parking lot.

Ahead of Mina was the main road, there she could see a line of warehouse buildings. Past them was an empty field which was the goal. If she could lose any of the zombies that were no doubt zeroing in on her in the warehouses then she could start making her way south.

"Where are we going?!" Karen asked from behind as she fired twice at a zombie closing in on them. The first bullet tore into its neck, slowing it down before the second bullet sent it spiraling to the ground.

"Warehouses, if we can lose the zombies in there we can slip out to the field behind them." Mina said as she reached the sidewalk. A woman appeared from behind an abandoned car, her shirt was ripped up and Mina could see the torn flesh from where she was attacked.

Raising her shotgun, she quickly fired two shells into her chest. Each shell ripped up her torso even more with an accompanying misty spray of blood. Keeping the shotgun ready she walked out into the street, making sure to keep an eye on her surroundings.

Behind them the gunfire in the parking lot increased, Mina could hear the rapid cracks and bangs of small arms fire behind her.

As they reached the other side of the street, Mina stood at the entrance of the warehouse section and turned around covering Karen's back as she crossed the street. In the parking of the office building they just came out of she could see that most of the officers had been taken down.

There was a few on the far sides in either direction firing towards the zombies as they piled out of the office building to give chase. Mina could see a few were even running in their direction.

"Shit, let's go." Karen said from behind her and the two of them turned to start running towards the first warehouse. The entrance was closed and locked, so they scooted around through the side alley and slowly made their way through it.

Mina opting to take the lead moved first as she moved through the narrow alley, it was eerily quiet except for the occasional pop and crack of gunfire in the distance. They had to stop several times as the moans of the undead could be heard coming both in front and behind them.

Yet nothing actually came after them. Whether it was luck or not, she was just glad that they hadn't yet run into a zombie.

As Mina approached the end of the alleyway she slowed down till she was about several feet from leaving it.

"You good?" Karen whispered.

"Let me listen, I don't want to walk out there only to get jumped." Mina said as she forced herself to slow her breathing down then held her breath. Doing the best she to listen but she didn't hear any sound, exhaling slowly she inched forward before finally peering around the corner.

To her left and right there were a few shipping containers, trucks and forklifts. However there was no sign of movement, living or otherwise. She beckoned for Karen to follower her and the two left the alleyway, always keeping one eye on it in case something followed them.

"Should we try to get in contact with the others?" Karen asked as Mina crawled onto a forklift to get a better look at the surrounding lands.

"Why?" Karen looked kind of confused at her answer.

"So we can work out a rally point before we continue north?" Mina didn't look back at her.

"Yea, you can do that if you want but I'm not coming with you."

"What do you mean?" Mina snorted.

"I'm not going back."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Mina looked back at Karen to see her eyeing her as she sat on the roof of the forklift, laying the shotgun across her lap.

"I'm deserting Karen; we're never going to make it back. So I'm going to go and find my family." Karen's eyes narrowed and Mina slowly placed gripped the handle of the shotgun, ready to use it.

"Cool, can I come with you?" Karen said, a smile creeping across her face. Mina was a little confused, not expecting that to happen.

"Uh, why?" This time Karen rolled her eyes.

"Come on, I'm not gonna go back by myself, those things will kill me before I even get within spitting distance of safety."

"True but why come with me?" Karen shrugged.

"Why not?" Mina stared at her for a few seconds before shaking her head.

"Fine." Karen smiled and whooped a little then clamped hand over her mouth then looked around. Mina just looked at her trying to decide if letting her come along was a good idea.

"Please don't get me killed Karen, otherwise I'm gonna haunt you." Karen shrugged as Mina jumped down then headed over to the fence. There was a row of razor wire on top, so they couldn't climb over. They didn't have any bolt cutters to get through it either.

"So where exactly are we going?" Karen asked as the two of them started to walk the perimeter of the fence, looking for an exit.

"Probably continue heading down the main road toward the southeast, Palmwood is about ten minutes out of Vale by car but it won't be as dangerous there as it would be sticking here."

"Why would it be less dangerous?"

"Because it has or had I suppose, a smaller population in comparison to Vale. The main factor is because it's a very spread out town, which means we won't be forced to navigate a tight urban area like we would here."

"Why not stick to the outskirts of Vale then? Plus it's less distance to travel." Karen pointed out but Mina shook her head.

"True but that's a lot of open ground to cover with such little ammunition. If we run into zombies out there we'll be forced to stand and fight since they'll run us down in no time. In a town, it'll be a little more dangerous but the chance of losing them through the buildings is a higher chance."

"Okay fair enough, so we're gonna head to Palmwood?" Mina nodded.

"We'll try to, but if things aren't any better than you can leave to do whatever you want cause I'm heading back into Vale to look for my family after that."

"Fair enough." She said simply. Mina saw what looked to be a gate a few dozen meters ahead, she gestured Karen to follow.

"Come on, let's get out of here." She said as she took hold of a chain that was holding the gate together. There was a simple pad lock on it and she gestured for Mina to stand back, aiming the M4 at the spot where the chain was connected with the padlock. She closed her eyes and fired, there was a loud crack and the sound of a chain falling to the ground.

Opening her eyes she saw the chain on the ground with the ruined padlock. She quickly looked around then towards Karen who flashed her thumbs up.

Looking up Mina could see the sun dipping ever so lower. Trepidation gripped at her knowing that they probably won't make it to Palmwood until it was dark.

Mina pushed one side of the gate opened and the two women jogged out into the empty fields.

* * *

 **Elsewhere…**

Jaune closed the bag that carried the spare handgun magazines. He filled magazines to have a total of sixteen magazines for the Glocks, another fourteen for the Beretta handguns, and a dozen magazines for the Sig Sauer.

He had also filled out the rest of the magazine pouches on his vest with additional Glock magazines bringing his total up to eight spare magazines with one already loaded.

"So Jaune, what's the plan when we get to Palmwood?" Yang asked Jaune turned to face her. Yang wasn't looking at him but focusing on driving behind Sun. Though he could see that she was a little more relaxed now that they had left the city, or as relaxed as one could be at the given time.

"Well the first order of business would be to see how it looks. Did whatever is going in Vale affect the surrounding areas as well or was the Government able to contain it? Depending on that it can change." He replied.

"Alright, say it's just as fucked there as it was in Vale, what then?"

"Well there are a few things we can do. We can split the group up, park the cars outside the town limits then have a small group go in and scout out a path for us to take. The second option would be we just gun it and find what we need as fast as we can then exit as fast as possible as well." Yang frowned a little.

"Those aren't really the best options." Jaune chuckled softly as he looked out the passenger side window. If he looked on both sides he could see nothing but grasslands or farms, though there wasn't any sign of life out there so they didn't stop.

"Well those are the best I can think of at the moment. Rushing in and finding fuel or other supplies we might need in a hurry is a surefire way to get someone hurt or killed. Taking it slow is dangerous as well since we're at slower speeds or stationary which means if those things find us we probably won't get away without something bad happening." Yang finally looked at him, flashing a quick smile.

"I'm sure you can think of something." Jaune snorted this time.

"What makes you think I can think of something?"

"I don't know you've haven't said anything that wasn't true in some sense and you seem to take your time to actually think about what actions we'll be doing then pick the best one for us."

"Yea but I haven't really done anything besides giving a few suggestions."

"What the fuck are you going on about Jaune? You're the one that came up with the idea of leaving Vale in the first place, the rest of us no doubt wanted to just stay in your house for the rest of time. Then there was you covering for us when we were packing the cars then leading us to your dad's store where you got us in and we got all those weapons and supplies." Jaune couldn't exactly think of a good response to that so he just stayed quiet, the radio crackled.

"We're coming up to Palmwood, less than five minutes out." Qrow's voice came over the radio; Jaune picked his radio up and clicked the send button.

"Alright everyone pull over so we can distribute supplies and discuss out next move." Jaune said over the radio. Ahead of them Sun put on his right turning signal and the group started to decelerate to the side of the road.

As Yang put the Mustang into park and turned off the engine, Jaune opened the passenger side door. A cool breeze hit him in the face as he got out, taking the handgun bag with him.

In front of them, Sun, Blake, Weiss, Neptune, and Pyrrha got out of Sun's jeep. Jaune watched as he stretched his limbs, the others doing the same. Qrow, Ruby, Nora and Ren joined them as well Jaune frowned seeing that Helena hadn't joined them though.

"So what's the plan fearless leader?" Nora asked as she put her hands behind her head and walked towards him. He lifted up the handgun bag and jostled it a little before setting it on the hood of the Mustang.

"We sort out our supplies, make a plan for what we're gonna do in Palmwood then rest up before moving out again." Jaune said as he leaned back into the Mustang to pull out his travel bag, opening it up he fished through it before he brought out a box of granola bars and binoculars. He tossed the travel bag back into the Mustang.

"Here, have everyone take one and get some water, but not too much we still need to ration what we have." He said as he handed the box to Nora, who promptly opened it and handed one to Jaune. He looked down a little puzzled at the proffered bar.

"Jaune you need to keep up your energy as well." Nora said with a slight scowl, Jaune held his hands up in defeat and took it. Nora turned around to start handing out the granola bars, Jaune headed past the cars and stood in the middle of the road looking towards Palmwood.

Even without the binoculars he could see that something was odd. Raising it up he began scanning for any signs of life. However he couldn't see anything, no cars, no people, and no zombies

He hated it; it would so much better to know that if there was a threat in Palmwood.

"See anything?" A familiar voice asked from behind him to see Qrow standing with his arms crossed, looking towards Palmwood.

"I don't see a thing." Jaune said as he handed the binoculars towards Qrow, who took them to look at the distant town.

"Well, we've arrived here so I suppose we're going to have to see what we can do in there." Jaune nodded absentmindedly as he looked at the truck. He could see Helena staring blankly out the window; he needed to get a handle on that situation. He turned back towards Qrow who handed the binoculars back.

The two of them joined the rest of the group on the side of the road. He could see Sun popping open the back of his jeep while Yang was bringing bags out from the back of the Mustang.

"So are we going to decide on a plan now?" Weiss called out to him but he shook his head.

"Let's take stock with what we have before making a plan." She nodded and the group began to sort through what supplies they had.

"So we've have six boxes of freeze dried meals and six boxes MREs, along with eight boxes of rationed water packs from the store. We still have one of the medical bags that I put together from our house, along with one clothes bag, another bag with canned food and water bottles. Then we've got the bags with the handgun stuff, the shotgun stuff and the two rifle bags but we're missing the rest of the stuff from the house and all of the stuff my dad had brought." Jaune summarized aloud as they repacked everything they took out. Ren, Nora and Pyrrha picked them up and started to put them back into the three vehicles.

"That's a lot of things that we lost." Blake responded.

"Yea but we've got twice the amount of food from the store that makes up for the stuff we lost from the house." Ruby said but Weiss rolled her eyes.

"That's not the point Ruby, every single thing counts now. If we lose another chunk of supplies we won't have enough to keep our heads above water." Ruby looked confused at this.

"We're not swimming and besides the supplies we do have are triple the amount that we had before we hit the store." Ren shook his head at this.

"Ruby I think she means that there were also a number of tools or items we needed to go along with the food and water that we lost. We don't have any water purifiers, flashlights, knives, hatchets, medical kits, matches, a fire starter, and a lot of ammunition." Ruby looked down at her feet at this.

"Alright guys, lay off Ruby she's just looking on the bright side of things. Which to be fair is better than wallowing in despair." Jaune said drawing their attention back to him.

"Anyways how's the fuel in the cars?" Sun scratched the back of his head.

"I've got about a quarter of a tank left." Jaune looked towards Qrow who nodded.

"Same." Lastly he looked towards Yang.

"Last I checked we had a little less than a quarter tank left but that should be enough to probably get us to a gas station." Jaune hummed at that.

"Well I guess that's the focus of our objective for the time being, we need to get as much fuel as we can, if possible also start looking for someplace where we can get some more supplies."

"So a gas station is our best target?" Sun asked and Jaune nodded as he looked towards the sky, the sun was starting to get lower. How long had they been out here?

"I have a question." Blake said Jaune turned to look at the black hair girl, a though occurred to him that these past few days were probably the most he's heard her talk well to him at least.

"How are we going to go about this? I mean we don't know how dangerous this place is." Jaune nodded.

"You've got a good point and initial I was entertaining two ideas. One was us just driving as fast as we can to look for what we need and the other was a person or small group goes by foot to scout out the best path for us to go." Everyone seemed a little hesitant about these ideas.

"I think we should go with the second plan." Weiss spoke up first.

"It's the safest and most logical approach. If we only have so much fuel we shouldn't waste it by driving around recklessly."

"Yea I'm gonna agree with Ice Queen on this one." Sun said earning a glower from said girl.

"Then the question is who do we send?" Ren said though Jaune didn't like the fact that most of them looked at him when he said that.

"We can't send too many people because Blake and Weiss can't use guns plus, well, Helena isn't in the shape to be doing too much." Yang said as she looked towards her uncle.

"What do you think?" The older man shrugged.

"I'm okay with staying or going." Jaune just pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Let's think of who will definitely be staying, which the first thought to mind is Ruby." The younger girl looked puzzled at him.

"Me?" He nodded.

"Yea, Yang says you're a good shot and since we're in flatlands that means you'll have a good view all around." She nodded.

"Makes sense, I'll stay then." A thought popped into Jaune's head.

"Actually what rifle did you pick?" Ruby grinned sheepishly.

"Well I was thinking about taking a M40 you brought." Jaune raised an eyebrow.

"Why not use the Model 10?" Ruby tapped her chin.

"Well last I checked our M40s and the Stag Model 10 both have only .308 Winchester rounds so the drop on them would be about the same but if we can get out hands on .300 Winchester magnum rounds or .338 Lapua magnum rounds then the M40 can hit farther. Though I feel much more comfortable using the M40 than the Model 10 plus we don't have a good sight to put on the Model 10."

"You can just take one off one of the M40 rifles."

"I suppose besides I feel like the Model 10 would be better suited if used in someone else's hands." Jaune shrugged accepting her reason. He looked up at the group, nodding towards Sun and Neptune.

"What about you two?" Sun stepped forward.

"I'll go and Nep can stay to help guard the group." Blake stepped forward grabbing Sun's forearm and dragged him away. Jaune turned to face Neptune who nodded.

"Yea best let them talk that out." Jaune nodded in agreement.

"I'll go as well." Pyrrha spoke for the first time since they had pulled over the cars.

"What?" Jaune looked confused towards her but she just nodded again.

"I'll go with you guys; you'll need the firepower as much as the group that stays behind." Jaune looked towards the others.

"Uh, I think you should stay here Pyrrha, you're still unfamiliar with your firearm besides me, Qrow and Sun would be the best amount of people to go." However Qrow spoke up at that point.

"Actually I think I should stay now." Jaune looked at him.

"Why?" He pointed to Pyrrha.

"She wants to help but since we don't know how well she'll be able to use a gun I'll stay here and teach her and anyone else that wants to learn." This got the attention of Weiss and Blake as well who returned with Sun.

"I think that makes sense, he's a trained professional so he'll be best suited to instruct us." Blake said though Pyrrha looked like she wanted to argue

"Alright then the two of us will go." Jaune said as indicated to Sun but Yang stepped up to him.

"Yea no, I'm going to come along as well." Jaune shook his head.

"That won't be necessary Yang we should be fine."

"You just said that three people would be the best amount, I'm more experienced at using a gun than Pyrrha, hell I'm probably more experienced than Sun when it comes to shooting guns." Jaune sighed as he ran a hand through his hair.

"Fine, consult with Ruby and your Uncle if they agree with it. Sun, we're gonna need a few things if we're moving by foot." Jaune said as he turned away from her and kneeled down to sort out his bag. He didn't need the extra clothes or the cleaning kit for his Glock.

Taking out the stuff he didn't need he was left with a bottle of water, extra shells for the Shockwave, the binoculars, a few left over energy bars and the swanky looking shotgun he got from his dad's shop strapped on the outside.

"Sun you have anything you need me to carry?" Jaune asked looking over his shoulder but Blake was standing behind him holding three emergency water packs. He stood up to face her, though it wasn't a true face to face since he was much taller than her. He frowned at seeing the hard look in her eyes.

"We both know you could do this by yourself so promise me you'll keep Sun safe and bring him back to me alive." She said shoving the water packs into Jaune's hands. Jaune looked away towards the empty grasslands.

"I can't promise you something like that Blake, as far as I know none of us are safe." Blake didn't say anything as she turned away from him. Looking around he could see the others had scattered. Though Sun was still there watching Blake walk away.

"Anything you'd like to take Sun?" Jaune asked but he shook his head.

"Not much really, I don't have a bag so I'll be carrying everything I need in this vest." He patted it for emphasis.

"Well you and Yang should both get a pistol; it'll be useful if we get ourselves in a tight pinch."

"Does it matter which one I pick?"

"Nah, just make sure you pick up the right magazines for it though, wouldn't do you any good to find out later that all your extra magazines don't even fit in the handgun." In the corner of his eye Jaune could see Yang joining them again.

"So what did they say?" Sun asked Yang sighed.

"Well Ruby was a bit upset which is natural that she wants me to stay here, Qrow is a bit ambivalent but he trusts me to do what's right." Jaune nodded.

"Good enough, you and Sun both need to get handguns and be prepared as well we don't know how long we'll be in there." Jaune said before zipping close his bag and shouldering it.

"Jaune!" He turned and looked down to see Ruby standing in front of him she had one of the M40 rifles slung over her shoulder along with the Stag Model 10 in her hands.

"What's up?"

"Did you happen to pack away any rifle kits when we were at your dad's shop?" Jaune nodded.

"I packed away a few universal kits I think we put the bags back in either Sun's jeep or the Mustang. Ren have any idea where those are?" Jaune said as he turned to address Ren who was leaning against the back of the truck with Nora. He nodded and went over to the Mustang and started fishing through it, Ruby hopped over to him as Jaune turned to the truck. Nora looked at him puzzled.

"Something a matter?" He nodded and gestured to the truck

"There's something I need to take care off." He said as he walked towards it, Nora's eyes widened as she knew what he meant. Yang and Sun knew as well what needed to be addressed but no one was quite able to give voice to their thoughts.

Jaune reached out and gripped the door handle but hesitated. He wasn't sure what he really wanted to say nor did he know if he could somehow makes things better but he had to do something.

He opened the door, inside was his sister Helena. She didn't acknowledge him as he climbed in, closing the door behind him.

Sitting there he waited to see if she would notice him or say something but she was just silent.

"Helena?" He said softly but she didn't turn to look at him.

"It's me, Jaune." There was still no response.

"I, uh, just wanted you to know that I'm sorry." He said looking forward out the windshield towards Palmwood.

"Sorry?" Jaune jerked his head to her.

"Yes, I'm sorry for not being able to help them."

"Why should you be sorry?" Jaune looked at her puzzled.

"What?"

"Did you kill them?"

"No."

"Did you tell Coco that she should drive recklessly?"

"No."

"Did you cause the apocalypse?"

"No but that's not the point." Jaune said and Helena's face screwed up in anger.

"Then what is the point Jaune? Are you going to sit here and tell me that you're sorry that two more of our family members died and if you were there you would have done what you could to save them?" Jaune didn't say anything as he watched his sister turn away from him.

"Good God Jaune, you're so fucking unbearable naïve sometimes." She said gesturing out the window.

"You act like you can save us! Save us from those, things!? Well you can't Jaune, you're going to spend the rest of your life being miserable because you're going to fail and you won't know when it's time to quit until you're broken, dead or alone." She looked back towards him and Jaune could feel his heart freeze. Helena no longer looked at him as she once had; her eyes had lost the joy of life that he once knew.

"So leave me alone Jaune, not all of us can pretend like you." Jaune wasn't sure what to say at that point, so he simply sat there for a few more minutes as Helena stared out the window. After a few moments he gripped the door handle but looked over his shoulder.

"I, uh, look Helena no matter what you make think or believe at the moment I'm still your brother and I will always be there for you." He could hear her sighing.

"That's not going to happen and we both know it but only one of us is being honest about it." Jaune shook his head sadly and opened the door. Standing outside of it was Ren and Nora.

"How is she?" Ren asked as Jaune closed the door.

"Not too good, she's talking at least so I suppose that's a plus but she isn't herself." Ren nodded and Nora looked at him with a resolute look in her eyes.

"We'll watch out for her Jaune, don't worry." Jaune tried to smile but it didn't stick so well, instead he simply nodded.

"Thank you Nora, but take care of yourself as well. I don't want anyone else to die; we've lost so much already." Sun and Yang came around from behind the truck both were holding onto their shotguns and he could see handguns in the holsters on their vests.

"You two ready?" He asked and they nodded.

"Alright, Nora can you get everyone?" Jaune asked and the orange hair girl saluted before practically popping out of existence as she took off looking for everyone. Within moments the rest of the group gathered and he looked over them. Aside from himself there was still Ren, Nora, Neptune, Sun, Blake, Weiss, Yang, Qrow, Ruby, Pyrrha and Helena.

"Alright then since we're all here, let's just get this over with. We're going to head out now; we don't know when we'll be back but keep your radios handy in case we say it is all clear or call for help. Though with that being said while we're gone be sure to remain vigilant. While the zombies are obviously a threat I don't think I need to remind you all of there still is another just as deadly threat." This drew looks of confusion on what he may be referring to but Yang, Nora and Ren all seemed to be zeroing in on him. Ren in particular had an uncharacteristic look of subdued rage that would be difficult to spot for those that didn't know him.

"Look what I'm saying is, not everyone that's living out there is going to be friendly now. If anything we should all stay on the side of caution at meeting strangers more so than ever." Jaune looked over towards Qrow.

"Anyways, Qrow you said you were going to help teach Pyrrha how to shoot better, right?" The older man nodded.

"Her and anyone else here that wishes to learn or improve what they already know is welcome to ask me for advice." Jaune nodded as he looked over his shoulder to Palmwood.

"Well if you're gonna do, ya'll should move further away from the town. We wouldn't want to draw the attention of anything or anyone with the shots." He nodded.

"We'll do that as soon as you head off." Jaune nodded as he looked to Sun and Yang who nodded at him.

"I guess we should get going." He said and slowly started to back up since he didn't know what else to say.

"You can just leave now." Ren said simply as Jaune exhaled and turned away. He could practically feel the look that Weiss was giving him that was probably along the lines of calling him an idiot. He could also hear Ruby trying to hold back her laughter.

"Good speech there Jaune." Yang said as she joined him on his right. He glanced over and could see the ear to ear smile meaning she totally meant something else.

"I wouldn't say that, I was just making it up as I go." Sun who was now on his left snorted at that.

"Don't worry Jaune we could totally see that." Jaune sighed again as both Sun and Yang laughed. Yang placed her hand on his right shoulder, squeezing softly.

"You'll get the hang of it one day." Jaune grimaced.

"That's not very reassuring."

* * *

 **An Hour Later…**

Jaune crouched down behind a wooden fence; they had finally reached the outskirts of Palmwood. Nothing but houses dotted the outskirts from what he could see. Though he could also see a set of train signals ahead which seemed like an impromptu boundary between downtown and the residential side they were on.

"I don't see anything." Sun whispered he was aiming to the house directly to their left as they were in its front yard.

"Sun's right there's nothing here, not even cars. You think the people escaped before anything happened to them?" Yang asked as she watched the other side of the street.

"I'm not sure, I would agree but it's better to assume there's something than nothing." Jaune said as he pulled the Shockwave off his travel pack.

"I guess you have a point." Sun said Jaune stood up and climbed over the waist high fence into the next yard then walked towards the street. Looking at all the houses he couldn't see a single car left in a driveway. There was even a few doors left wide open suggesting that the people had in fact left the neighborhood.

"Remember to keep an eye out and call out any sign of people or zombies." Jaune said as he turned to see Yang and Sun joining him. Both of them nodded as they continued to scan their surroundings, the three teens continued to move deeper into the town.

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

Qrow watched as Pyrrha braced herself with a Sig Sauer in both hands. In front of her was a metal sheet that they had found in a pile of others just like it, discarded on the side of the road. So he had set it up against a rock for a target.

"Alright! Weapon ready!? 3…2…1…Fire!" Pyrrha fired three rounds in quick succession. Qrow could hear that each shot was accompanied by the sharp sound of the bullet striking metal.

Qrow raised his hand to signal for Pyrrha to stop. She quickly unloaded the magazine, stuffing it back into a magazine pouch on her vest then racked the slide, ejecting the chambered round in it.

As she holstered the Sig Sauer he stepped out from the shoulder of the road and walked over to the rock which was to their south west.

Walking up to it he could see three holes packed into a group with less than an inch and a half at most from each other. Though they were a little off to the right but it was pretty good nonetheless.

This was mildly impressive since it was her first time actually firing with live rounds in the gun. He had her practice first with loading and clearing the gun followed by quickly drawing it while preparing to fire.

Judging also from the fact that she was also at least fifty yards away shows that the girl seemed to be a natural with it.

"Good grouping, you kept it tight and in control." Pyrrha smiled.

"I have a good teacher!" Qrow waved his hand dismissively.

"Whatever, as soon as I get clear I want you to keep practicing with at least two magazines, every third shot come out here to check your grouping on them. If you need a new sheet of metal I'll bring you one or just get them yourself." He said gesturing to a pile of metal sheets that they took with them. Pyrrha nodded as she pulled out the same magazine from before and loaded it into the handgun.

However as she racked the slide and took her stance to aim she looked east. Palmwood was further away from them now since Qrow had them all move another four miles west to prevent the sound of them shooting carrying over to the town.

She took a deep breath as she thought about Jaune leading Sun and Yang into the town to scout it out. Speaking of Yang, Pyrrha looked ahead again. Taking aim once more then quickly fired three more rounds, the accompanying ringing of metal was like music to her ears.

Pyrrha cleared the Sig Sauer as she walked over to the rock with another sheet in case she needed to replace the current one. It had already been abused by Qrow demonstrating earlier with his handgun.

She wasn't sure why she was upset about not being able to help Jaune but his reason that she wasn't experienced in using a firearm was a legitimate concern.

Thus she was now standing here firing rounds into metal sheets in empty grasslands while Jaune puts himself in danger. She sighed it was going to be a long day.

As Pyrrha was working on her shooting skills, Qrow went over to talk to his niece. She was sitting on the top of the truck fiddling with the scope of a M40 rifle in order to put it on the Stag Model 10 at her side.

She had wanted to get it put together for Jaune and the group but he had left before she had finished. Looking away from her he could also see the Schnee girl and the quiet Blake girl.

The Schnee girl was reading through the manuals. Taking a closer look he could see that she was reading one about rudimentary medical care.

The Blake girl was just looking quietly out into the empty grasslands around them. Aside from a distant house or two there wasn't really anything out here.

Which could be both a good and a bad sign since to their direct north was supposed to be some sort of livestock farm. When he had looked through one of the rifle scopes he hadn't seen any livestock which didn't necessarily mean a bad thing.

Though the fact he had seen a few trucks in the outlying perimeter also with no sign of them being released didn't sit well with him.

"Uncle Qrow is something a matter?" Ruby asked as she finally separated the scope from atop the rifle, he looked up at her.

"Nothing really kiddo I was just thinking."

"You do know that it's probably something we're going to need to know soon anyway so why not just tell us now?" Weiss said from the front of the truck, though she didn't bother looking over at him as she flipped another page.

"Fine I was just wondering about that livestock farm in the distance about what happened to them." Weiss looked towards him.

"The owners probably just took off and led the animals go." Qrow nodded a little.

"Maybe but I saw trucks out there with no sign of them letting the animals go. Something else might have happened over there." This got the attention of the three girls who looked at him.

"What are you saying?" Blake asked.

"I'm saying that we might need to move again soon." Ruby's face screwed up in thought.

"What about Jaune and the others?" Qrow held up one hand to stop her.

"I'm not suggesting we go too far away but we might need to change locations mostly likely head south a little. Maybe even get off the main road to avoid drawing attention to ourselves."

"It doesn't sound like a terrible idea." Blake said.

"Alright then I'll let you three know when it's time leave." Qrow said turning away from them. Past the Mustang he could see Nora and Ren standing together looking east. He made his way over to them; Ren looked over his shoulder at him.

"Yes?" Qrow jerked his thumb over his shoulder.

"You two wanna practice shooting after Pyrrha?" Nora looked at him.

"Ren and I already know how to shoot." Ren pointed to the back of the Mustang and Qrow turned to see two handguns lying on the trunk.

"Well I guess that settles that issue." Ren turned to him.

"Is there something a matter? Did Jaune report anything?" Qrow shook his head.

"No word from Jaune or the others we're going to have to assume they're still looking." Ren nodded before looking back east, Qrow frowned.

"Is something a matter?" Ren nodded but didn't look to him, he pointed east.

"We were gonna come and tell you guys but I think there's something coming this way." Qrow snapped his head in the direction he pointed. He didn't see anything first but the more he looked the more he could see a shape moving in their direction.

He turned around and jogged back to Ruby and took one of the M40 rifles with its scope still attached to it.

"Uncle Qrow?!" Ruby called out but he ignored her as he made his way back over to Ren and Nora. He raised the rifle up and pointed it east; looking through the scope he was able to see more clearly that the shape was in fact a car. Lowering the rifle he looked to Ren and Nora.

"Get everyone ready to move now."

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

The door swung open, slamming against the wall causing a few of the glass panes on it to shatter as he kicked it open. He winced at the sound of the glass shattering but backed up from the door, aiming his shotgun at it and waited.

Thankfully nothing came charging out from the doorway or anywhere else in the vicinity for that matter. He turned to see Yang starring deadpanned at him while Sun was trying not to laugh, though he wasn't doing a very good job.

"Why'd you kick the door?" Yang asked as Jaune stepped through the doorway slowly.

"Well for one I didn't want to enter immediately in case there's something here or someone with a gun trained on the door. Plus the sound would have alerted any zombie inside making them come out to us instead of us coming to them."

"Sure but what if it drew the attention of more zombies nearby, we'd get swarmed by them." Jaune tried not to wince at that since he realized that the moment he kicked the door open.

"Well I suppose I should come up with a better idea next time." Jaune said as he scanned the room. Around them were several square tables with chairs pushed in. Across from him was a counter stretching about ten feet in either direction.

Above it was a trio of chalkboards on the wall describing coffee, snacks, and food along with their prices. To his far right was a wooden staircase that led to a second floor.

"Jaune, I like coffee as much as the next person but why are we here again?" Sun asked as he closed the door behind them and pushed one of the tables in front of it.

Though they knew it wasn't the only real entrance inside there was several ground level windows that could have easily been smashed for entry. Jaune supposed it was just one way of making them feel better in a sense of having control.

"Well for one it was easy to get into in general plus it looks like easy access to the rooftop which can give us a better view of the surrounding area." Jaune said as he climbed the stairs. The second floor was similar to the first floor with several tables, chairs but had also a few wall mounted televisions.

There were also a few windows, one of which over looked the neighboring rooftop. Walking over to it, he looked outside to see the street was still empty. No signs of life or otherwise in the buildings, he turned around and headed towards the nearest table.

Setting the shotgun down on it, he picked up a chair and walked in front of the window. Lifting it up and drawing back, he flung the chair as hard as he could. The window shattered as the chair passed through it and fell to the ground

"Jesus fucking Christ Jaune will you stop breaking shit?" Yang called out from behind him, he turned to see both her and Sun with their shotguns held ready.

He shrugged as he picked up his shotgun again and walked over to the broken window. Using the barrel he cleared out the remaining glass before stepping over onto the roof of the next building.

Straight ahead of him he could see several more rooftops of neighboring buildings and shops.

Putting one hand on the wall to his left, Jaune stepped onto the ledge of the window. Outside to his left was the rooftop of the next building, if he stepped completely forward he would end up joining the chair.

"Be careful of the glass." Yang said as he leaned out facing away from the street and put his foot out, now he had one foot in the café and the other on the roof. Shifting his left foot till it reached the outside ledge of the window, Jaune pushed off it onto the roof. He stumbled a little on his right foot as he quickly reasserted his balance on the roof.

Ahead of him was an air conditioning unit on the building he was standing on but to his left there was a ladder that led to the roof of the café. Walking over to it he started to climb up it when Yang crossed over from the window of the café.

"I'll be up here." Jaune called out to her, she nodded as she turned to watch Sun cross next.

Jaune reached the top of the roof of the café, now he had a better view of the surrounding area. Setting his shotgun on the ground again, he took off his backpack and opened it. Pulling out his binoculars and stood up bringing it to his eyes.

Scanning the surrounding area he could see to the west more buildings stretching for miles. To the north there wasn't as many buildings but still a large amount that could be harboring bandits or the undead.

He did however note what looked to be a mall in that direction as well. It might be worth checking out later; to his south he found what they had originally set out for.

He could clearly see a sign displaying gas prices in the distance, judging from where he was standing it was four or five miles from where they were.

Looking back east he could see the houses and neighborhoods from where they had come from stretching out a few miles. Beyond them were the grasslands in which the three of them had left behind the rest of their group to locate gas and other supplies.

"See anything good?" Sun asked as he and Yang climbed up with him.

"I see a gas station to our south, probably a couple miles out, we can let the others know what we found and then go check it out to make sure it's still functional. Also there's a mall to our north it might be worth checking out but I think it'll only be a good option after we get supplies since we don't know the situation yet." Sun nodded as Jaune offered him the binoculars which he took to look with.

"I think we should just stick with the plan, top off the cars and gather what supplies we can in the nearby areas. No need to complicate it by going to it." Yang said as Sun passed her the binoculars.

At that moment, Jaune heard the muffled sound of his radio coming from his vest as someone called out for him. Pulling it up, he hit the talk function on the radio and turned to the west.

"Hello?" He asked and released the talk function after a few moments; Ren's voice came over the line again.

"Jaune where are you?"

"On the roof of a café, why?" Sun and Yang closed in on him in order to hear the conversation.

"How are things in Palmwood?" Ren asked instead.

"It seems safe so far we haven't run into any person or zombie so far, Ren is there something going on with you and the others?" He asked but Ren didn't answer, Jaune exchanged looks with Sun and Yang.

"Jaune, we've moving off the main road to avoid getting into contact with a bunch of vehicles coming east behind us. We're moving south at the moment." Jaune understood their choice in moving since he had warned them of avoiding contact with others for the time being.

"Alright, well there's a gas station to our south as well, we're gonna head over to it and check it out before coming back to you guys." Jaune said.

"Alright, we'll let you guys know where we end up. We might come closer to the town in fact." Ren replied.

"Remember not to take any unnecessary risk, there's still a chance the town is a dangerous place. Anyways we'll be heading out now as well, the sooner we get this done the sooner we can rendezvous." Jaune said before tucking the walkie talkie away.

"What are the chances that those people that Ren mentioned are friendly?" Sun asked but Jaune could only shrug.

"I really can't say, with the way things are at the moment we don't if we'll run into paradise or hell." Jaune said and Yang snorted in response.

"Well aren't you just full of sunshine and rainbows." Jaune rolled his eyes at that.

"I just don't want to underestimate the amount of danger we're in at the moment and will probably continue to be in for who knows how long." Yang held up her hands to stop him.

"Hey I get it Jaune, things are fucked up at the moment but you should remember to not be too scared to do act otherwise we might miss good opportunities when they come up." Sun nodded as well.

"She's right Jaune, there's probably a bunch of stuff that we can pick up with everyone pretty much gone." Jaune gave Sun a deadpan look.

"Sun we're not going to loot." Sun held a hand to his chest in mock protest.

"It's not looting if we're in an emergency situation for our very lives." Jaune thought about it and realized in a sense he wasn't really wrong. He shook his head, now wasn't the time to get distracted.

"Wait, I see those people Ren mentioned." Yang called out to them. Jaune and Sun walked over to her, she handed the binoculars to him.

"Where am I looking?" He asked and Yang pointed towards the edge of town. Lifting the binoculars up to his eyes he could see that there were indeed a number of vehicles moving to them. He counted at least two dozen cars moving at high speed towards the town.

"Shit, that's a lot of cars." Sun said as Jaune passed him the binoculars.

"What are the chances that we run into them?" Yang asked but Jaune shrugged his shoulders.

"I honestly don't know, we don't know who they are or what they're planning."

"They do seem to be in a rush; maybe they'll pass us without even knowing we're here." Jaune nodded.

"That might be the case; it should be easy for us to avoid getting into contact with each other." Yang nodded as the three of them turned to get off the roof.

"Yea, nothing to worry about."

* * *

 **An Hour Later…**

Jaune watched through his binoculars the dozen vehicles that were parked around the gas station that they had spotted earlier. He could see at least two or three dozen men and women dressed in paramilitary gear, filling the vehicles with fuel, taking supplies from the shop inside or watching the perimeter.

"You have any idea who they are?" Sun whispered from behind a display table of the shop they were in. It was a corner shop that they had gotten in from one of the side doors which kept them from being noticed from the people at the gas station.

"I've no clue; they could be soldiers, National Guard or just random people that their hands on gear like us." Jaune said.

"Well they don't look too friendly." Yang noted and Jaune couldn't help but agree with her. The way the guards watching the perimeter and were holding their weapons screamed dangerous. Then again considering what was going on, it would probably be a good idea to shoot first then question later.

Speaking of their weapons, they had some serious firepower. From what Jaune could see, several people had what looked to be IWI Tavor rifles. A few more had the distinct FN F2000 Bullpup rifles, which made Jaune acutely aware the lack of firepower they had on hand.

"Think we can take them?" Yang asked from next to Jaune and his heart nearly stopped at the idea.

"Fuck no; they'll obliterate us with that firepower." Jaune said looking over at the other blonde who just shrugged her shoulders.

"It was just an idea." Sun snorted.

"Yea a terrible idea, I prefer living thank you very much." Jaune ignored them as the two bickered at one another. Looking back at the group of people he saw three individuals who looked startling familiar. One had green hair, another silver and a third jet black hair that went down to her shoulders.

For some reason they looked incredibly familiar but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"Look, someone's coming." Sun called out point to their right. Jaune and Yang looked in the direction he was pointing, further down the street coming out from a building was three people. A man and two women, the man carried a crowbar which he held above his head.

They watched as a large portion of the people in the gas station gathered near them. To Jaune it looked like the man was trying to join their group, though it seemed the people must have needed convincing since he was gesturing with his arms a lot.

The person with the jet black hair from before stepped forward from the gas station group. What happened next was something Jaune dreaded to see.

The black haired person gestured with their hand and walked away. The man with the crowbar looked to be yelling in anger while standing protectively in front of the two women.

Four of the paramilitary looking members raised their guns and fired. The echoing sharp cracks of gunfire were distinctive even inside the store as the three people were gunned down.

"Holy Fuck!" Yang said as she stood up, checking her shotgun quickly she started moving to the nearest door to the outside but Jaune stepped in front of her.

"Get the fuck out of my way Jaune, those people need help!" Yang snarled.

"Yang, those people are dead! You can't help them." Jaune tried reasoning with her but she snorted.

"I can still stick this shotgun up their asses and pull the fucking trigger till it's dry." She said trying to push past him but he simple wrapped his arms around her as he held her back.

"Yang you do that and you'll be dead as well and since me and Sun are here we're going to die also since we'll have to follow you out there." Jaune said he could see the anger flaring in her lilacs eyes but she nodded and moved back over to where they had crouched before.

"This is such fucking bullshit." Yang said as they watched the strangers pick up and carry the bodies out into the middle of the street, leaving them there.

It wasn't until a few moments later when Jaune saw the people start to move in a hurry again. They watched as the people had not only filled all the cars with fuel but had also started filling jerry cars.

However now the people were packing everything up as fast as they could, he exchanged looks with Sun and Yang. At the moment gunfire erupted further out, Jaune instantly gripped his shotgun, so did Yang and Sun.

"What the hell is going on?" Sun whispered as they saw the people start to get in their cars and drive off. As more and more vehicles left, roaring down the road past them Jaune saw what they were fleeing from.

Dozens of mangled bodies were running towards the gas station. Jaune felt his hands go cold as the sight so he stood up.

"We need to get out of here." He said as more gunfire raged in the streets outside. Yang and Sun stood up, they turned to him. However he saw the instant looks of both surprise and fear on their faces then things went crazier.

He grunted as something tackled him from behind. He hit his forehead against the side of a display table that they had been behind and a flash of searing pain erupted from his forehead.

As he fell flat on the floor he could feel something cold drip onto the back of his neck along with the guttural moan he vaguely recognized that could only come from a zombie.

Ice cold hands gripped the back of his head and left shoulder. He tried to push it off him but he was having a hard time focusing and moving his body.

Yang watched as the zombie's mouth closed on Jaune's shoulder. She had frozen up when she had first seen it, unable to stop it from tackling Jaune into the display table. Now as she watched it about to bite and possibly kill him, she did the only thing she could think of.

"Get off him!" Yang screamed before firing her shotgun. She watched almost in slow motion as the buckshot shell hit the zombie at the base of its neck, the flesh turning into a mess of torn skin, muscle and broken bone.

Then just like that everything sped up again and the zombie was shoved to the side by the shotgun round.

Sun stepped forward over the zombie with his shotgun aimed down at it. Yang stepped over to Jaune and leaned down next to him as he groaned.

"Jaune holy shit, are you alright?" She asked, her heart hammering in her chest as she looked at droplets of blood on the back of his neck and hair.

"Ow." Jaune said as he slowly began to push himself up from the floor. Yang set the shotgun to the side and helped him stand up on his feet again. He looked to her and nodded, she winced at see the gash in his forehead from where it slammed into the table. A trail of blood was traveling down his right temple.

"How are you feeling?" She asked as she stooped down to pick up both her and his shotgun.

"Feels like my head hit a table." Jaune said dryly as he accepted his shotgun back. Yang didn't look amused at that.

"You need to rest Jaune, a hit like that could be serious." She said but he shook his head, which he regretted because it sent another wave of pain through his head.

"Later we need to get out of here." Jaune turned to Sun who was watching the doors into the store.

"Sun, you think you can take point? I don't think I should be first till I can clear my head." He nodded then gestured to the doors.

"Where should we be going?" Jaune squeezed his eyes trying to think, but his raging headache and the gunfire outside wasn't helping him.

"West. We should regroup with the others." He nodded before turning to the left side entrance which was slightly ajar. No doubt that was where the zombie had come from. Yang gripped Jaune's left arm, he looked towards her and he could see the concern written all over her face.

"Are you sure? We can simply just sit here, block the doors and wait it out." She said.

"That's not the best idea, we don't know how many are going to be coming plus I'm hoping the zombie will follow these people. So if we stay here and they notice us we'll be trapped, plus it's going to get dark soon so I'd rather be back with the group by then." Jaune said as he checked his shotgun and followed Sun who was holding the glass doors open aiming with his shotgun for any threat nearby.

"I think this is a bad idea." Yang said as she followed him.

"Your concern has been noted Yang." He said as he followed Sun outside, the cracks and pops of gunfire from the gas station seemed to be ten times louder outside but he did his best to focus on Sun as he jogged down the sidewalk away from the gas station.

Sun kept his shotgun aimed ahead his eyes flicking back and forth for any threat. His heart was beating like a drum in his chest and sweat was trailing down his face. The loud crack of gunfire made him tense up every few seconds for he was expecting a bullet either by accident or purpose to find him.

Ahead of him he could see the street took a turn to the left towards a small park, beyond that he could see what look to be an over pass that lead to the highway.

However he narrowed his eyes as he could see several figures coming towards them. A part of him wanted to wave them down but he knew that he needed to quell that urge now.

"Heads up we got company coming towards us." He called out as he slowed down to a walk. He doubled check for what could be the thirtieth time in the last ten minutes to make sure his shotgun was load.

"Alright line up, Sun stay where you are I'll take your right and Yang you cover my right." Jaune said as he caught up with Sun. The figures were running faster now straight towards them, in the corner of his eye to his right Yang was standing with her shotgun held ready.

"Alright keep pace with each other I don't want anyone lagging behind or pulling ahead of each other's shots." Jaune said reading his shotgun.

"Got it." Yang said.

"You're the boss." Sun replied as well. The three of them continued to press down the street as the zombies closed in on them. Their loud rasping cries could be heard despite the gun shots behind them.

Jaune trained his shotgun on the closest figure. A tall lanky red hair woman who wore a tattered business suit, the edges was ripped and the white blouse underneath her jacket was stained red. Jaune waited until she was just past forty yards to fire.

The blast looked to have taken her in the right shoulder as she jerked back from the hit and spun left to the ground. Her momentum at running caused her to go another five feet before actually falling face first into the ground.

Though it wasn't a kill shot since he could see that she wasn't truly dead, she was convulsing on the ground as she tried to get up.

Yang fired next, she could see several puffs of red mist as her shell hit her. Racking her shotgun she raised it to see more of them were closer now. Jaune and Sun started to fire their shotguns; she could see Jaune hitting a man in the center of his chest.

It was almost comical in the way he flopped back from the shell, almost like in the cartoons when someone runs into a wall and falls back.

"Yang! On your right!" Jaune yelled she turned to see another man less than twenty feet from her.

"Fuck!" She shouted as she brought the shotgun around and fired. The blast caught him fully in the upper chest and jaw. She could see his jaw and collar bone become a mess of ripped flesh and broken bone.

"Pay attention for fuck sakes!" Sun yelled as they continued walking slowly. Yang didn't say anything as she turned her attention to another zombie.

This one was a woman whose right arm had mangled patches of flesh torn away. The bottom half off her faces was red from the flesh being torn off and Yang could practically see her lipless blood stained teeth.

She didn't hesitate in firing, the woman dropped like a bag of rocks as the buckshot ripped into her. Switching her aim Yang fired another shell into an older woman; she aimed a little off on this causing it hit her right arm. Though it was still enough to rip away a chunk of flesh from her bicep and shoulder, Yang quickly chambered another shell firing it into her chest this time.

Like before the woman dropped to the ground a bloody mess of a hole around her sternum. The rapid fire of a pistol cracked out from next to her and she looked over at Jaune seeing him put five rounds into a teenager.

Looking around she could see that there wasn't any remaining zombies standing. Sun also had a Berretta 92FS in his hand reloading it as he watched the way they had come.

"Guys those people are gone." Sun called out Yang looked back the way they had come. She didn't see any of the cars, there was still gunfire but it sounded more distant. Even better was the fact that she couldn't see any more zombies.

Though it didn't mean there wasn't any, she glanced to the woman she had shot earlier. Her blood was pooling on the asphalt with torn fragments of flesh from where she had been hit scattered all around.

"We need to keep moving." Jaune said as he kneeled down, Yang moved to his side. She could see that he was breathing heavily and his face was much paler than normal. It didn't help that he was also bleeding from the cut in his forehead that he got when hitting his head.

"You okay?" She asked but he held up a hand.

"I'm fine, just a little dizzy." She grimaced as she looked up at Sun who seemed to have the same thought as her.

"I'm pretty sure that's a concussion." Jaune nodded slowly as he stood up again, he holstered his Glock and began sliding new shells into his Shockwave shotgun.

"Probably but we need to get out of here, it'll take a while to get back to the group that it'll probably be dark by the time we see them again." Jaune said as he started walking down the street again. Sun and Yang exchanged looks at each other before following him.

* * *

 **An Hour Later…**

Sun watched as Yang rubbed Jaune's back slowly as he vomited behind a rock. They were had barely left Palmwood when Jaune started feeling nauseous.

On top of that it seemed that the vehicles from before where wandering the area. Though Jaune had pointed out that they had left the opposite direction they had when the zombies attacked, which means they're looking for something. Or more likely they were looking for someone.

Sun wasn't sure what to think about that since they should have been too busy fighting or gathering fuel to notice them in the store in the first place. However Jaune said that there were enough people there so the chances that someone noticed them could have happened.

For what it was worth Sun knew that Jaune wasn't a dumb guy, in fact the more he actually paid attention to him the more he realized how intelligent the guy was.

Which made him wonder how he and Weiss didn't get together, they were both intelligent people. Though he did recall Blake telling him how Jaune wasn't the most socially attuned person out there so maybe that was really something he wasn't good at.

He glanced back over at Yang rubbing Jaune's back as she scolded him. It seems like that is no longer an issue for him. Looking back towards the highway he could see the town looked perfectly normal or about as normal as not seeing a single sign of life could be.

"Sun! We're moving out again." Yang called out from behind and he turned to see Jaune shouldering his bag. The poor guy looked pale as death which was kind of funny considering how zombies are rising to kill people.

Sun followed Yang and Jaune as they trekked through the grasslands in the direction that the rest of the group had given them earlier. Pyrrha had apparently wanted to take the truck out to get them but Jaune had talked her out of it over the radio.

As they walked through the fields Sun looked up at the sky, it there as an orange hue to it now. Thinking about how they would be trapped outside with an untold amount of zombies being almost anywhere was truly frightening.

He couldn't help but wonder who was going to die next.

* * *

 **Elsewhere…**

Mina watched as eight armed and armored individuals exited the three vehicles in a textbook manner before running into the store.

There were a few bursts of gunfire before they started leaving the store with baskets full of food and other supplies.

Whoever these people were, even with the way things were right now they acted in a professional manner. However it was that professional manner that gave pause to the idea of her and Karen going out to meet them.

With their weapons, gear, vehicles, and supplies they must figure that if people saw them they would view them as prime targets to go after. Considering that she and Karen were both armed as well going out to meet them would no doubt lead them to getting killed.

Though she didn't have any real basis to put that on it was just something she would have done had she been in their position.

As she stepped away from the roof ledge from which she and Karen had been spying on the strangers, she looked up at the sky. It was getting dark and they didn't have any idea where they were going to stay for the night.

They were currently in the north western section of Palmwood. They had talked about going further into the town but threw that idea out the window when they heard gunfire earlier. They reckoned sticking to the outskirts would be the safer choice.

Mina had hoped that they would have at least found a car to use but surprisingly enough they couldn't find any. They had found signs of people packing in a rush to leave the town. They found abandoned luggage, food, and other miscellaneous items but no car.

So now they've been traveling from neighborhood to neighborhood, heading further south till she reached Highway 480. From there she'd start making her way back into Vale, towards home but that was still a distance away.

As the two of them started to head away from the ledge they heard someone crying out. Mina stopped and turned around, it sounded like a woman. She looked at Karen who shrugged; the two of them crept back to the ledge from where they had spied on the strangers.

By the parked cars was a woman between four of the strangers. Two of them were holding a woman by her arms as she tried to break free. She was whimpering as a third person was leaning close to her but they couldn't hear what he was saying.

Though Mina had a semblance of an idea what it might be when she started to cry once more begging for someone to help her. Two people holding her by her arms dragged her out of view behind one of the trucks. Mina felt her mouth twist in disgust at what she saw.

"What the fuck?" Karen whispered from next to her. Mina felt anger clutch her heart and she turned around to get back down to the streets.

"Mina?!" Karen asked but Mina ignored her as she checked her shotgun before climbing down the fire escape they had used to get up on the roof in the first place to an alleyway.

Once off it she double checked to make sure nothing was near her then moved in the direction of the grocery store. Keeping her back to the wall of the building on her right she inched closer to the street.

Peering around the corner she could see just one person standing guard. She did take notice that the person was carrying an FN F2000 rifle. The chances that the others were just as armed were a high chance.

"Mina." Karen's voice came from behind and a wave of fear passed over her. She looked over her shoulder at the other woman.

"Holy fucking shit Karen, what is it?" The other woman nodded towards the lone sentry.

"I'll take that fucker, you get the others." She said as she pulled out her Glock. Mina nodded and left her cover. Running in a low crouch she went over to the other side of the street where a small brick wall with shrubbery on top that marked the boundary of the parking lot.

She peered around the shrubbery to see the sentry wasn't looking in their direction. She gestured with her right hand for Karen to come over; she could hear the rustle of her equipment as she made it to that side of the street.

"Alright I'll move and head straight for their cars; you keep an eye on the sentry. If he even twitches in my direction before I make it to the cars, light the fucker up. Though if I do make it there be ready to fire on my signal." Mina said as she looked at her companion who looked confused at the last part.

"What signal?" Mina doubled checked her M4.

"You'll know when I give it." She said as she left the cover. The parking lot was mostly empty; to her left she could see lights inside the store.

The cars were another dozen meters ahead of her; she could hear the woman from before whimpering mixed with the laughter of men. Her mouth curled in disgust as she finally neared a black Lincoln Navigator.

She looked back the way she had come from, she could see the shape of Karen crouching and peering around the side with her Glock ready. Mina looked down at her M4 as she steeled herself, reading the shotgun she rounded the SUV.

What she saw truly made her sick to her stomach. Two men were holding the girl down by her arms as a third was between her legs. Mina could see a pair of pants discarded to the side while the man had his down to his knees.

One of them looked up at her, the look of fear in his eyes just made her even angrier. Without saying a word she fired a shell into his face. The double-aught buckshot hit him in the face deforming it with a cloud of bloody mist occupying the air where his head was.

Switching her aim she fired at the other man who was holding the woman down. The double-aught hit him in the chest sending him onto his back.

The third man who had been violating the young woman pulled out handgun just as Mina fired a third shell. He screamed as the double-aught hit his right elbow, bone, flesh and blood erupted from it as the shotgun shell ripped through it.

The man fell back screaming in pain. The girl sat up and crawled over towards the SUV then pressed herself against its grill while tucking her legs in.

Behind her she was aware of men yelling and a Glock being fired. She turned around and headed back the way she came to check on the sentry.

Peering around the Navigator she could see the sentry lying on the ground, most likely dead. Karen was running towards her now, her Glock trained on the store.

Mina turned to it as well; the others would no doubt be coming to investigate what was going on. Putting more shells into her shotgun, she pushed towards the other two Navigators.

Stopping at the closest one to the store, she stood on the other side of the hood and trained her M4 at the door. Karen came up to her right and crouched down with her Glock aimed as well.

On cue the other members of the group started advancing out of the store. Though she and Karen didn't fire immediately at them as they could hear them yelling about watching for zombies.

This meant they didn't know they were waiting for them. She grinned as she trained her shotgun on the nearest one and started firing. The man yelled in pain as he fell forward, the others started yelling as Karen added her own gunfire to the mix.

Mina fired two more times at the next closest one before switching to the backside of the Navigator and fired at another man who was running towards the SUV. The double-aught shell hit him in the stomach and he flopped to the ground as he cried out in pain.

Much to their credit, they organized themselves properly and started to return fire. They couldn't riddle the vehicles with automatic fire since the SUVs were their only means of travel.

Mina and Karen didn't have that problem as they fired without mercy at them. Mina hit a third man in the leg, causing him to fall to the ground screaming in pain before switching to another. However she was forced to duck behind the Navigator as he fired a five round burst from his F2000.

The window above her head shattered in a shower of fragments. She laid herself flat on the ground as the man fired another burst; she could see his booted feet and aimed with her shotgun. She fired a shell that took him at the shins.

He fell to the ground yelling more so in anger than pain. Mina stood up stepped out of cover with her shotgun held ready; he still had his Bullpup in hand. She fired another shell, this one hitting his chest effectively silencing him.

Tossing the shotgun aside she pulled out her Glock 19 and raised it up as another man appeared in front of her aiming his Bullpup from the hip. They both fired, Mina felt two hard impacts on her stomach as she fell back.

Coughing and gasping for air as she rolled to the side she looked over at the man. He was rolling back and forth, gurgling blood as his hands were clamped around his throat. It seemed that she got lucky in her shot.

Karen was still firing off to her right; she quickly glanced over at her.

"Mina! I'm out!" She yelled as more gunfire cracked into the side of the SUV.

"Take mine!" Mina said, holding her Glock butt first towards the other woman. She dropped her handgun and quickly took Mina's before going back to her spot. Mina rolled to her hands and knees as Karen fired three more times before ducking as a burst of gunfire ripped into the car again.

"Keep them distracted." Mina said as she stood up and made her way over to the man she had shot in the throat. His struggling had stopped so she quickly darted out from behind the SUV and grabbed his Bullpup.

It was different than anything she had used for before; she pulled back what looked to be the charging handle on the top left of the gun. An unfired round popped out, she nodded to herself and stood up with the Bullpup held ready.

Looking through the shattered window she could see that there were only two men left firing their own F2000s at them. She sighted it on the closer of the two then pulled the trigger and the Bullpup kicked slightly but she had missed.

She quickly fired three more rounds, this time they hit the man who jerked back with each hit before dropping to the ground. The last one standing realizing that it was over started to fire wildly, sending a long burst at the car causing her and Karen to duck.

Standing up and running past the ruined Navigator, Mina shouldered the Bullpup as she zeroed in on the man who was sprinting away from them. Firing three rounds she watched the man fall and skid forward on the ground.

"Well that's all of them." Karen said as she stepped out from behind the ruined Navigator, keeping the Glock pointed at any of the fallen men. Mina said nothing as she put another round in each of the men lying in the parking lot in front of them.

"Kind of a waste isn't it?" Karen asked but Mina shrugged as she turned back to the Navigators and walked towards them. Going back to where she first got the jump on these people she found something that really pissed her off.

The guy that she had shot in the elbow had apparently retrieved his handgun. He used it on himself but not before putting a round into the young woman they had been assaulting earlier.

Mina spat on the man's corpse before firing three more rounds into his chest. Each round was accompanied by a small puff of blood.

Turning around she could see Karen looking uneasy at the sight of the dead woman. She looked at Mina, anger and frustration evident in her eyes despite the failing light.

"What's wrong with these people?" Mina shrugged.

"It seems we've already forgotten in light of recent events that zombies aren't the only monsters hunting us but the monsters disguised as humans are now on the hunt as well." Karen sighed as she extended her arm; Mina looked down to see her giving back her Glock.

"Keep it, something tells me we've got new options for weapons at the moment." Mina said holding up the F2000 in her hands.

"Plus they were grateful enough to pack a SUV full of supplies for us." Karen said jerking her thumb to the only Navigator that didn't get a bullet hole in it.

"Grayson? You there? Come in Grayson." A voice called out, Mina raised the Bullpup and scanned for enemies.

"Grayson you cock licker, fucking answer already." Mina realized that it was a radio, turning to the sound of the voice she saw a radio sticking out of a pocket from the man who shot the young lady.

"Fine Grayson be a dick, but just so you know the Boss wants us to head southwest off Highway 480. The Boss wants us to find a group of teens, all of them blondes; two of them are boys with short hair and a girl with long hair." Mina looked towards Karen who was slipping attaching pouches with F2000 magazines onto her own vest.

"Don't look at me, I'm following you." Mina turned away and started to put magazine pouches with ammo for her newly acquired Bullpup on her vest. Something about what the person over the radio said seemed to tickle away at her mind but she couldn't figure it out.

In any case whoever these people were, they weren't friendly in the slightest bit. She looked over at the corpses on the ground with disdain.

"Alright, strip everyone down for weapons and ammo. We're going to need to move fast if we're going to catch them on foot." Mina said as she walked over to another corpse and started to remove more magazine pouches.

"So we're going after them?" Karen asked.

"Yup, I wanna find these fuckers and see what the hell is wrong with them." There was a jingle from behind and Mina turned to see Karen with a wide smile on her face. Most importantly was that she was twirling a pair of cars keys around her finger.

* * *

 **Some Time Later…**

The steady chirp of crickets in the darkness of the falling sun was the only thing keeping the three teens company as they made their way across the fields several miles outside Palmwood.

In the distance Jaune had spotted the lights of three cars shining on a farm house. Qrow had informed him that they'll turn on every ten minutes to help guide them.

He didn't want to keep them on the entire time since it would drain their batteries along with the unwanted attention that it might bring.

Jaune had informed him about what happened at the gas station. Qrow didn't sound very happy to hear about it, though he wasn't very happy at seeing it so it was understandable.

Gun fire echoed in the distance, the three teens dropped to the ground. Though for Jaune it was kind of a welcome relief to have stopped moving.

"That sounds a lot closer now." Sun called out, though careful not to raise his voice too high. They had just had the unfortunate incident of running into a group of what appeared to be undead farm hands ten minutes ago. Which emptied Yang of most of her shotgun shells along with Jaune's.

Running into zombies had become more frequent as they left Palmwood into the surrounding countryside.

Already the encounters with them had spent more ammunition than they could afford to use in a simple scouting mission. Not only with that but Sun also lost his shotgun a little while earlier.

He had been taking point when they were crossing a small creek from where they had gotten off Highway 480. What they didn't notice was the several undead forms of homeless men around them.

Two of them had gotten the jump on Sun, pushing him into the creek. In the ensuing fighting, they had to leave the area and thus abandon his shotgun.

When they had finally gotten away from the zombies, Sun had practically stripped naked in his frantic self-search for signs of a bite mark. Thankfully aside from a few bruises and cuts from falling he was fine.

On the flip side, Yang was now the only one that hadn't gotten hurt in some form or another. He was still trying to contend with his concussion as they travelled.

"Do you think they're looking for something?" Yang said as they got up and continued to move forward.

"Maybe but we'll never know unless we meet them." Jaune replied.

"Yea, I don't think I really wanna know then." Sun said.

"So you guys have any ideas about those people?" Yang asked Sun shrugged.

"Actually I was going to ask later but since you keep bringing them up, did you guys see anyone familiar amongst them?" Jaune asked Yang and Sun turned to look at him. However in the failing light of day he was having a hard time seeing their expressions.

"What do you mean?" Sun asked as Jaune walked past him.

"Well there were these three people who looked like people we would know."

"Who?" Yang asked as she joined them.

It was at that moment light illuminated them from behind. The three teens turned to see several pairs of headlights pointed towards them.

"Shouldn't we run!?" Sun yelled as he pulled out his handgun and Yang pointed her shotgun in their direction.

"Stop! We don't know what they want." Jaune said gesturing for Sun and Yang to lower their weapons.

"I pretty sure it's not going to be a good thing." Yang said through gritted teeth.

"Sure but I would rather not get into a gun fight just yet." Jaune said as he could see multiple doors opening. No doubt if they were the same people from before they'll have their guns trained on them.

"Hello!?" Jaune called out taking a few steps towards the light while shielding his eyes.

"Don't move!" A voice called out and he stopped in his tracks. A trio of figures stepped out in front of the headlights.

"My, my, if it isn't Jaune Arc." A voice called out, he didn't recognize it as someone got closer to him. He could tell that it was a girl but he didn't recognize voice or how she might know who he was.

As she got closer Jaune felt a familiar distaste fill his mouth.

"Cinder."

* * *

 **Elsewhere…**

Pyrrha stood away from the other vehicles looking to the Northeast. They had been hearing a number of gunshots in the distance lately.

She couldn't help but worry about Jaune and the others. Qrow had told them that they were on their way back so everyone should be ready to leave as soon as they got back.

Though she couldn't just stand there and wait for them to return. It felt weird to be so restless that she couldn't remember the last time she was like this.

There was one time when she was younger and she was left alone to wait for her parents to return from their jobs. She had already set everything up since she knew that they wouldn't have time when they did arrive.

However they didn't come home at their usual time but she still waited for hours past her bedtime for them. She still ended up falling asleep some time later at the kitchen table waiting for them.

It wasn't until morning that she woke up to see that she was still at the table. Looking around she found that her parents had come home at some time but had simply gone straight to bed.

Pyrrha had to take down everything she had set up and stored the food in the fridge before getting ready for school.

That birthday was the last one she had ever been excited for. Though she supposed now this anxiety she was feeling was far different than something like a birthday but it felt so familiar.

"Pyrrha?" She turned to see Qrow standing with his arms crossed behind her.

"Yes?"

"Why are you just standing there?" He asked raising an eyebrow at her, she gestured to the fields before her.

"I'm waiting."

"For the others?" She nodded and Qrow sighed.

"You don't need to wait for them Pyrrha, they'll be fine."

"Maybe but that doesn't mean I can't wait nonetheless." Qrow shrugged at that.

"I suppose but Ruby is also on watching with her rifle so you don't need to stand there forever. Get some rest will ya." It was at that moment that Ruby yelled out to them.

"Uncle Qrow! Come look!" Qrow turned immediately and was by Ruby as she stood on the roof of the truck looking through the scope on her rifle.

"What is it Ruby?" Qrow asked as she jumped down, Ren, Nora and the others were coming towards them as well.

"I see lights in the distance, lots of them." Ruby said offering her rifle to Qrow who took it, she pointed past Pyrrha towards the fields. Turning to look where she was pointed Pyrrha could see the glow of car lights as well.

"What's she going on about?" Weiss asked.

"I see car lights out in the fields." Ruby said turning to look at the other girl, who looked surprised to hear that.

"You have any idea who it could be out there?" Weiss asked but Ruby shook her head.

"It could be Jaune and the others. They might have taken a car and used that to come back to us." Neptune said but Ruby shook her head again.

"No way, I saw a lot of head lights, probably at least four or five cars out there."

"She's right; it's not Jaune or the others driving them. In fact Jaune and the others are out there right now." Qrow said lowering the rifle and handing it to Ruby. He turned around and went to the truck, opening the driver door he pulled out his Stag Model three rifle.

"Everyone stay here and stay low. I'm going out there." Pyrrha was about to argue when Qrow took off running across the fields towards where the cars and Jaune were.

"I suppose we should be ready to leave when they come back." Ren said as Pyrrha turned to the others she could see Ruby climbing back onto the roof of the truck with her rifle and one of the duffle bags.

"Ruby what are you doing?" Weiss asked as Ruby.

"How far do you guys think we're from those cars?" Ruby asked instead.

"What are you talking about?" Neptune asked.

"900 Yards." Blake interrupted; Pyrrha could see a smile forming on the younger girl's face at that as she readied the rifle. Pyrrha felt a smile spread across her face as well knowing what the girl wanted to do.

"Come on!" Pyrrha said and the group sprung into action.

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

"Oh so you do know me, I guess my reputation precedes me." Cinder said nonchalantly as two more figures stepped out from the cars to join her. On her right was Emerald Sustrai on her left was Mercury Black.

Emerald look mostly bored but Jaune could see the tension in her shoulders, she wore a black military vest as well. He did find it peculiar that she had two handgun holsters, one on the vest while the other was around her right thigh.

Mercury looked like he was really enjoying himself. He was also geared up with a military vest like Emerald though he had an F2000 hooked to his vest.

Lastly was Cinder, who wore a simple outfit of black boots with grey trousers and a black shirt. Though Jaune could see that she wasn't unarmed, a handgun holster was wrapped around her right thigh as well.

"Do you like what you see?" Cinder asked Jaune could feel his face flush a little which brought an uncomfortable wave of dizziness. Which he must have shown because he could see a flash in Cinder's eyes suggesting she noticed something as well.

"I, uh, no I was just wondering what the hell is going on."

"There's no need to worry about that, we were just looking for survivors to join us." Yang who was throwing murderous glares at Mercury who was looking everywhere but her face turned to Cinder.

"That's not what we saw earlier with your cronies." She spat out, Cinder turned to face Yang an amused look touching her face.

"Why if it isn't Yang Xiao Long, color me surprised to see you here."

"What do you want from us Cinder?" Yang asked clear exasperation in her voice at seeing her.

"I don't want anything from _you_ , I came here for Jaune." Everyone looked at Cinder when she said that. A small part of Jaune found it slightly amusing to see the look of surprise on Emerald's and Mercury's face.

"Uh, what?" Sun asked looking over at Jaune who shrugged.

"What do you want from Jaune?" Yang asked but Cinder was ignoring her again instead opting to stare straight into Jaune's eyes. She didn't say anything as she looked at him and he really wasn't sure what was going on.

"Why are you out here?" She finally asked.

"We're getting away from Palmwood."

"Alright then but why are you going in this direction?"

"It's easier to have left the town by this direction instead of going through it."

"You could have skirted the outside of the town instead of going back out here in the middle of nowhere."

"Well we were also trying to lay low to avoid encountering what I assume is your group as we did at the gas station." She nodded at that.

"Right, you were in that corner shop." Jaune narrowed his eyes little.

"You knew we were in there?"

"Well, not at first but I heard a gunshot much like a shotgun in that direction which is where I saw these two." She said gesturing to Yang and Sun.

"Alright but why are you coming after us."

"Like I said earlier I'm looking for more survivors to join up."

"Then why did you have your people shoot those three survivors at the gas station." Cinder's face turned serious at the mention of that.

"They were infected, we turned them away but they tried claiming that they were clean. So we were forced into the position of either accepting them and waiting until they turned on us or letting three people who would no doubt tail us and eventually turn into targets to deal with at some point or another. So we decided to pull that problem up by the root to spare ourselves of the trouble later."

"What proof do you have that they were in fact as you say infected?" Yang asked Cinder rolled her eyes as if what she was asking was incredibly stupid.

"They had what appeared to be bite marks and other lacerations on their limbs. Other than that you'll just have to take my word for it." Jaune shook his head.

"Well then I'm afraid this is where we part ways since I can't entrust my life or the life of my friends to you." Cinder smiled as if what he was saying was amusing.

"Friends?" Jaune nodded.

"Now if you excuse me I'll take my leave." Cinder smiled as she chuckled softly and grabbed Jaune's arm. He turned to look at her smiling face. Now she wasn't an unattractive girl Jaune would never argue against that. However at that moment the way her eyes looked as they bore into him, he couldn't think of something as unnerving as them.

"I don't think you understand Jaune Arc, when I told you about what we did with those people earlier. We couldn't allow them in amongst us but we couldn't let them leave either." It took Jaune a moment to realize what she meant and panic flooded his system. He looked at Sun and Yang who must have sensed something off as well for both of them looked ready to run.

Emerald and Mercury on the other hand looked to be itching to draw their weapons. He looked towards the headlights of the cars. There must be at least a dozen people there as well all of them, armed and ready to use their weapons if the order was given.

He swallowed nervously as he tried to think of something. However he realized almost instantly there was no way he could get all three of them out of there alive. As Jaune opened his mouth to say something, a familiar voice called out from behind him.

"Step away from the blonde musketeers!" Jaune looked over his shoulder, his eyes adjusting to the darkness of the disappearing sun.

"Uncle Qrow?" Yang called out and Jaune blinked several more times before he saw the figure of Qrow Branwen appear. His rifle was aimed towards Cinder and her associates, both made to reach for their weapons but Qrow clicked his tongue.

"If you even bring those things halfway up, I'm going to put a bullet in both of your faces." Emerald looked unhappy as her arms fell to the side. Mercury spat to the side, anger evident on his face.

"Now if you don't mind, back the fuck up from my niece and her friends." Qrow said before glancing at Jaune.

"Come on kid, we're getting out of here." Jaune nodded as the three teens made their way closer to him, though none of them turned their backs to Cinder and her group.

"And you might you be?" Cinder asked casually not seeming put off by the sight of Qrow aiming his rifle towards her.

"I don't see how that's any of your business." Cinder smiled as she gestured to Yang.

"Maybe but as I was telling your niece here, we can't allow them to leave unchecked."

"They're not infected." Qrow said as he waved the three of them to continue moving with his left hand as he stood in front of them. He couldn't tell how many people there were with the headlights shining in his face but something told him that whoever these people were they were not to be trifled with.

"Maybe but I would rather that you four not leave at all." Qrow gritted his teeth before responding.

"Why?"

"Well it wouldn't do us any good to have a another survivor group competing with us for resources." Qrow shook his head.

"Vale is big enough for both groups to not have to worry about competing for food and other supplies. Hell we probably won't run into each other again if we went our separate ways right now." Cinder shook her head.

"You may have a point about that but considering what's going on there's one supply that seems to be already in short supply." Qrow narrowed his eyes.

"And what would that be?" Cinder smiled as she pointed to them.

"People."

"What do you mean?" Jaune asked.

"Do you know how many people lived in Vale?" Cinder asked instead, Jaune tilted his head a little at the question.

"Fourteen million people lived in the heart of Vale, in less than a few days the city has fallen to the undead. On top of that, Palmwood with a population of eighty three thousand people was lost to the undead as well. Who knows how many more towns or cities have fallen in Vale. Along with that Vacuo is gone too with its population of eight million and its surrounding territory as well. If I had to give a guess seeing what I've seen I would say there are millions of these zombies out there right now and that's on the low end. On the high end I would say tens of millions either within the next week or month we'll see Humanities domination of the world shrink to nothing."

"So what? We're being drafted into your little fucking group?" Qrow said Cinder looked to him.

"You make it sound like we're some kind of villainous group. We're not; we're trying to keep people unified in order for us to have a chance to survive." Emerald spat out but Jaune simply shook his head.

"We're not trying to make you out as the enemy nor do we have any intentions of interfering with your group. With that being said we don't want anything to do with you people." Emerald snorted as if what he said was disgusting to her.

"Like I said earlier Jaune, we can't take that chance." Cinder said before snapping her fingers. Several people came out from the shadows by the vehicles all of them had their weapons pointed to the four of them.

"It doesn't have to be like this." Qrow said snapping his Stag rifle from target to target but even he knew that they weren't in a very good position.

"Then join me and you don't have to worry."

"I don't think so." Jaune said lifting his shotgun to hold in both of his hands. Despite being outside in the cool night Jaune could still feel sweat trailing down the back of his neck.

"You can't beat me Jaune." Cinder said a hard frown on her face before it lightened up and she extended her hand towards him.

"Join me and I guarantee that the four of you will be treated as equals." Something about the way she said that rubbed him the wrong way.

"I'd step away from him if I were you Cinder!" A new voice called out from their left. They turned to see Pyrrha coming from behind them with the other Stag rifle in her hands pointed towards them.

"Pyrrha Nikos…" Cinder said.

"Don't forget me!" Another voice called out from their right and they turned to see Neptune with his shotgun pointed from the hip towards Cinder's group. Jaune thought he heard Sun slapping his face and calling him an idiot.

"Sure, whatever." Cinder responded before looking back at Pyrrha.

"I should have realized that something was off when I found these three by themselves." Cinder said still nonchalant as ever. Jaune had to give the girl some credit; she really did play it cool. On the flip side Emerald and Mercury looked like they were about to come apart at the seams with this development.

"You should accept his response and leave them alone." Pyrrha said in return a murderous look on her face as she aimed the rifle towards Cinder. Jaune may have only known Pyrrha for a short time but he'd never imagine seeing such a look on Pyrrha's face.

"Any more surprise visitors?" Cinder asked and as Jaune was about to open his mouth to reply, a new voice called out.

"Just us!" They turned to see two women approaching from the shadows from both sides of the cars with FN F2000 Bullpup rifles pointed towards Cinder and her group.

"Well that's something." Mercury said.

"Now will you please tell your people to stop pointing their weapons at us and we'll do the same. Neither of us wants to get into a gunfight." Jaune called out to Cinder who looked back at him but he couldn't read her face at all.

"Okay then, we'll take our leave but be mindful that this issue isn't settled." Cinder said as she gestured the group to lower their weapons.

It was almost surreal to see the people in Cinder's group moving slowly back to their vehicles. Cinder was the last one to get back into the vehicles as she stared down Jaune.

They watched as one by one they left leaving them in the dark. The only illumination that he could see was a few lights from Palmwood until he pulled out his Glock to turn on the flashlight attachment. He panned it around as Pyrrha and Neptune came to join them.

"Well I didn't fucking expect that." Sun said.

"Neither did us bro, who would have thought that a simple scouting trip would end with you guys about to get into a shootout." Neptune responded.

"Oh man today's been crazy man, I'll tell you about it after I sleep for a week straight."

"Ha, I don't think a certain someone will let you."

"Oh man any other time I would be happy for that but I really just wanna sleep." Sun said.

"Alright, enough of that you two, let's get out of here." Jaune said as pointed the flashlight in the direction Qrow was going.

"Jaune?!" A voice called out that sounded very familiar. He turned around to see two more flashlights turn on and point in their direction. One bobbed violently as whoever was holding it was running towards them. The next thing he knew was someone crushing him in a hug.

"Holy shit little brother I didn't expect to see you here!" The woman said and that's when it hit him.

"Mina?" She laughed.

"What? Don't recognize your own sister now? I haven't been gone for long from the house." Jaune felt dizzy again as he realized what he was going to have to tell her.

Before he knew it he realized that he was lying on grass. To his right were their vehicles, though there was one more now a black Lincoln Navigator.

He also noted that his gear wasn't on him anymore. The cool air chilled him and he could feel how damp his shirt was from how much he had sweated over the day.

Turning his head he could see a campfire, which wasn't a bad idea. They wouldn't want to use their battery power in with the headlights from the cars or their flashlights.

He just hoped they changed locations while he was out, he didn't want to think about what might happen if zombies or even worse Cinder's group finding them again.

He tried to sit up but his mind was beating rapidly inside his head. Groaning he finally made himself sit up and immediately there was a group around him.

"Jaune are you okay?" Yang asked.

"Don't strain yourself Jaune, you need to rest." Pyrrha added in.

"Jaune stop being a dumbass and lay down." His sister Mina chimed in, though she was really eying the two other girls crowding him.

"I'm fine, now let me up." Jaune said both Pyrrha and Yang had their hands on his chest pushing him down.

"Fine but if you pass out again I'm drawing on your face." Yang said as she crossed her arms with a grin on her face but Jaune could see the annoyance in her eyes.

"You had us worried you know that right?" Pyrrha said as he slowly got to his feet brushing his pants before standing up straight.

"I know it's just that everything kind of just slipped from me at the moment." He said as he looked up into the night sky. It's been awhile since he was out like this during night. The last time he remembered being out of a city at night like this was when his parents took the family camping years ago.

"Ahem." Jaune turned to see his older sister Mina Arc standing in front of him. Her short blonde hair was swept to the side and trailed down to her chin. In the soft glow of light he could see that she looked as haggard as he felt.

He immediately reached out and brought her into a hug which she returned just as easily. Despite the discomfort of her gear it felt good to know that he and Helena weren't the only Arcs left out there.

"Have you talked to Helena?" Jaune asked as they broke contact, she nodded.

"Yea but she's not herself." Mina said looking to the ground, confusion on her face.

"Jaune what happened? Where are mom and dad? And where's Nessa, Claire and Miriya?" Jaune looked towards Pyrrha and Yang.

"We thought it would be best if you talked to her about this." Pyrrha said as she looked down. Jaune turned back to Mina who looked like she had already pieced it together but just didn't want him to cement it as fact.

"You're going to want to sit down sis."

* * *

 **10 Minutes Later…**

"Holy fuck." Mina said as she ran a hand through her hair. She didn't expect things to be like this, no wonder Helena was so off when she went to talk to her.

"Yup, things haven't been great. In fact the best thing so far was you coming to help us with Cinder." Mina nodded.

"Yea who the fuck was that bitch?" Jaune sighed; Mina always did like to swear.

"I guess the best way to put it would be she some maniacal girl from my school." Mina snorted.

"Maniacal? Jesus fucking Christ Jaune that girl is downright evil, you may not know this but that group of hers isn't something to mess with. If she didn't have such an interest in recruiting you she probably would have had them gun you down before you could blink." Jaune nodded at that.

"We know Mina; we saw them kill three people at the slight possibility of one or all of them being infected." Mina clicked her tongue.

"So what happened to your forehead?" She asked after a silence descended on them. He reached up to his forehead and gingerly poked at it, wincing when he touched the area around the bandage that they had put on his head.

"I hit my head."

"Well duh but how did it happen?"

"Oh, well it was about the time we saw Cinder and her group. They attracted a horde of zombies and we didn't hear one coming into the room we were held up in. I stood up and the next thing I know something tackles me from behind and I hit my head on the edge of the table. Thankfully Yang saved my life by killing it before it took a chunk out of me." Jaune could see Mina's mouth twist up in a smile at that.

"That's the blonde chick with big tits right?" Jaune sighed.

"Please don't say that and yes, her name is Yang." Mina chuckled.

"Oh baby brother what will I ever do with you."

"Well you can start off by not calling me baby brother."

"Aww but why not, it's such a cute nickname for my cute baby brother." Mina said poking Jaune's cheek.

"Now I wish I did get taken by Cinder."

"Don't be such a sour puss Jaune."

"Whatever." Mina laughed as Jaune crossed his arms in a pitiful display of defiance.

"So who's the pretty red head?"

"You mean Pyrrha?" She smiled again.

"So you agree with me that she's pretty." Jaune scoffed.

"I'm not going to get into that with you." She didn't say anything as the two of them stood there watching the night sky.

"I'm proud of you Jaune." Mina finally said.

"What for?" Jaune asked.

"Come on don't be an idiot. I talked to Ren, Nora and the others you essentially took command of the group and got them out of Vale as best you could. That's something to be proud of; I know mom and dad would be proud to see you doing your best to keep them safe." Jaune sighed as he ran a hand through his hair.

"It's not something to be proud of I still got people killed, Coco, Velvet, Miriya, and Claire are all dead because of me. Helena isn't talking to anyone and we're now stuck in the middle of nowhere with no plan or idea to work with."

"What about this plan of yours to get fuel?" Jaune shook his head.

"I don't know if the area where we scouted out is usable anymore, did Cinder's group somehow take all the fuel, did they sabotage the pumps, and have more zombies come into the area since we left? Too many questions or risks with little or no chance of surviving and getting what we need." Jaune took a deep breath; the cool night air filled his lungs though he could detect smoke from the fire they set up.

"Not only is there that but Cinder had a point when it comes to the fact that we don't know anything that's going on out there. How fast has this spread, what's safe and what's dangerous? How many people are actually alive anymore in Vale? Do we try going to Atlas or Mistral? Maybe we can even go to the minor Kingdoms to the south like Menagerie but that would require a lot of resources that we just don't have." Mina put her hand on his shoulder and squeeze softly.

"I don't know Jaune, those are questions that I can't give you but neither can anyone else for that matter. All you can do now is do what you think is right."

"What if what I thought was right gets more people killed?"

"Then own up to that shit but don't let it consume you. You start dwelling on every single mistake you make or might make then nothing will get down. If that happens you might as well put a gun in your mouth right now and end it."

"But…" Jaune started to say but Mina interrupted him.

"Jaune if you don't shut up I might have to beat the shit out of you." Jaune sighed though he couldn't help but smile a little.

"Fine." Mina grinned.

"That's a good baby brother. Now if you excuse me I'm going to eat that shit you got from dad's shop." She said before heading over to the fire. There Weiss, Blake, Sun, Neptune, Ruby, and Yang sat around eating MREs.

"Jaune?" He turned to see Pyrrha holding two open packages of MREs.

"I thought you would be hungry after your little excursion." Despite knowing that the MREs are probably really bad tasting his stomach couldn't help but growl anyways. The two of them laughed at that before he took one packet from her.

"What is it?" She asked as he scooped up a spoonful of food and looked closely.

"Looks like chili, what do you have?" He asked looking to Pyrrha who already had her spoon in her mouth. Jaune watched fascinated as she munched on it for a second before smiling.

"Elbow macaroni and tomato sauce it seems." Jaune chuckled before digging into his food. It was definitely not the best thing he ever ate but it didn't seem that bad as he imagined. Though he made a mental note that if possible to get cooking supplies and ingredients the next chance he got.

"You know I was really worried when you passed out." Pyrrha said after a while, he looked at her.

"It seems I worried a lot of people when that happened." Jaune said and Pyrrha sighed in frustration.

"I'm serious Jaune when I saw you passed out on the ground my heart felt like it stopped beating for good." Jaune looked over towards Pyrrha who was looking at the ground confused as she talked.

"I mean first you and the others were gone almost all day and we didn't know what was going on then as it's getting dark we see you nearly getting coerced into Cinder's group. Then after almost getting into a gunfight you pass out on us, how could I not panic?"

"I…uh…I'm not really sure what I can say Pyrrha. It kind of just happened, I definitely didn't want or expect these things to happen but we're going to have to roll with it." Pyrrha rubbed her face with one hand and Jaune could see that she was struggling to say something.

"What are you two up too?" Nora interjected at that moment; Jaune felt a slight wave of fear pass over him when Nora spoke up with Ren coming around from the side.

"Oh nothing much Nora, what have you and Ren been doing? Have you two eaten? She asked and Ren nodded.

"We've eaten." Nora made a face.

"Not exactly the best thing I've ever eaten." Jaune chuckled.

"They're not meant to be the tastiest but at least you won't starve." Nora shook her head.

"I think I'd rather starve." Pyrrha looked thoughtful at that.

"Well I can't say I disagree but if things don't go back to normal we're not going to have a choice in what we eat." Nora sighed.

"Fair enough but I rather enjoy what we can while we can." Jaune looked at Ren.

"Where were you guys?" Ren looked surprised at the question.

"Just eating and watching the night sky." He said as he looked away towards the campfire where most of the group was sitting.

"So have you talked to your sister?" Jaune nodded.

"We talked; I got her up to date on what's happened with us and the rest of our family." Ren nodded.

"Yea it's still weird to imagine what's happened with your family." Jaune lightly punched his shoulder.

"Hey man I'm not the only one that's taken a loss like that, what happened to your mom will probably haunt me years down the line. Well if I live that long at least." Ren put a hand on Jaune's shoulder.

"Thank you Jaune." He nodded and gestured towards the campfire.

"Come on." He said and the four of them went over to the campfire. Blake, Sun, Weiss and Neptune moved to either side for them to sit down.

"Welcome back to the world of the living Jaune." Sun said with a grin, passing a water packet over to him.

"Technically I was just passed out, not dead." He snorted.

"Suurrre." Jaune chuckled as the group sat there finishing off their food and water packets.

"Alright, so what's the plan now?" Weiss asked as she turned to look at Jaune who just stared back at her.

"What?" Even now it seemed that he had the knack for annoying the girl since she narrowed her eyes at his response.

"What do we do now since you're back? Is the plan still on like before?" Jaune narrowed his eyes as he thought back to what the plan was supposed to be, he was slightly surprised that he forgotten it.

"I guess we'll continue with it." Weiss raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Really?" Jaune nodded.

"Yea, is there a problem, I'm all ears." She nodded.

"Well from what we've been told about how it went for you three, it might be too dangerous to go in there." Yang waved a hand dismissively.

"Nah its fine, we only ran into a few zombies and Cinder's group didn't leave too many standing around there as well." Weiss crossed her arms.

"That doesn't mean that more won't come. Maybe they arrived there later as they were farther away from the initial location." Yang shook her head.

"No way, Cinder's group was went nuts as they drove away. I won't deny there might be zombies there now but nothing we can't handle."

"Yang's got a point and besides we don't have the luxury in not trying to get that fuel. Besides it sounds like the gas station they saw wasn't too far into the town so it sounds reachable."

"Weiss's point isn't something to be looked over though as well. There's just no way to know if the area is safe now." Ruby chimed in.

"We're not looking over it but risk is an inherent possibility for us to deal with. If we're too scared to go and get that fuel we'll be forced to walk and then we'll also be forced to abandon supplies that we can't carry with us." Blake replied.

"But if we go in there and something bad happens we could lose another vehicle and one of us could get really hurt or worse. Look at Jaune, he got tackled and now pretty much has a concussion." Weiss snapped back, Jaune raised his hand stopping them from going any farther.

"Look I understand your concern Weiss and I take the safety of everyone here to the utmost importance but that includes in making sure we've got the supplies to keep us going. So we're going to try our luck at the gas station there even if it just means topping off our fuel tanks." Weiss nodded and looked away; Jaune ran a hand through his hair.

"Weiss I understand your concern and your opinion is as valuable as anyone else here. So if you truly think we shouldn't go through with this we'll come up with something better." She looked back over at him a hint of a smile on her face.

"That's okay Jaune; ultimately I trust your judgment and if the group collective disagrees with me then what right do I have to change our course of actions." Jaune caught Neptune giving him a funny look in the corner of his eye but ignored it as his sister sat up.

"If I may interject, Karen and I also have some supplies that we should sort through sometime probably in the morning. If memory serves me right I'm pretty sure there are some jerry cans in there that we can use along with food and equipment." Ren looked towards her.

"How many jerry cans are there?" Mina hummed as she tapped her chin in thought.

"I don't know probably about seven or eight; we took some off the other cars there at the time." Pyrrha looked at her.

"If they're full then we can use them on the cars for now which would lessen how long the cars have to be on the pumps then refill them when we're traveling again." Mina nodded.

"I have another question for you redhead, you went out there to help my brother and the others with that rifle but do you even know how to use it?" Pyrrha seemed to stiffen a little at the question but answered nonetheless.

"I understand using it in theory, I haven't actually fired it."

"Oh! But she's a pretty good shot with what she's used so far." Ruby chimed.

"Interesting." Mina said before standing up.

"Well you kiddies have fun I'm gonna go talk to what's his face."

"You mean Qrow?" Yang asked looking at her, Mina nodded before walking away.

"She seems like a nice person." Neptune noted Jaune scoffed a little.

"You wouldn't say that if you knew her." Neptune shrugged.

"I was only being polite."

"I know." Sun stretched his arms and indiscreetly put it around Blake who just shook her head at the display.

"I think we should all head to sleep now." Jaune nodded before speaking up.

"Not before we figure out a guard shift."

"Well I can say for certain that you, Yang and Sun aren't allowed to be on guard shift." Blake said as she looked up at Sun.

"Why not?" Jaune asked and the raven hair girl just looked at him as if he was an idiot.

"Well first you're injured so you should rest; secondly the three of you had a significantly harder day than the rest of us." Jaune frowned.

"Yea but we should always do what we can for the whole group." Pyrrha put a hand on his forearm; he couldn't help but enjoy the cool sensation of her hand on his skin.

"Jaune, you three have already done a lot for us already today so let us do something in return, plus you won't be much use if you don't get some rest soon." Jaune rolled his eyes.

"Thanks mom." Nora started giggling from his left.

"Jaune if your mom was here she wouldn't even have let you sit here with us." Even Ren had a small smile on his face.

"I could imagine her swaddling you in a blanket while she force feeds you food." Jaune and the others there couldn't but laugh at the ridiculous image that popped in their minds of him in a swaddle.

However it eventually died down as Jaune remembered that his mom was dead, along with most of his family for that matter. Looking up he could see that most of them were obviously quieter now at remembering that as well, he slapped his knees softly before standing up.

"Alright then, I'm gonna catch some sleep then. Wake me up if something happens though." Jaune said looking over towards Ren who nodded in return. He bid goodnight for everyone and walked away. Pyrrha watched as his figure disappeared in the darkness.

"Someone should check on him every few hours, if his concussion is really bad then there could be come complications we need to be on the lookout for." She said turning to the group. They continued to talk for a little more but soon Sun and Blake broke off to get some sleep. Weiss and Neptune broke away next, Ruby went to join them.

Pyrrha looked around at who remained near the fire. They hadn't put anymore wood on it, opting to let it die down a little since people wanted to sleep.

To her left was Ren and Nora who sat together, she couldn't help but note that they were holding hands. Though it was really just Nora gripping Ren's wrist but he didn't seem to really care. To her right was Yang, something about sitting next to her made her feel uneasy.

She couldn't say for certain what it was that made her feel restless but some part of her knew that answer. However it was a part that she didn't want to fully acknowledge despite its insistence as of late.

"I'll take the first watch of us then, I'm not sure about Qrow or Mina and her friend but I'll talk to them." Pyrrha said as she stretched her arms over her head. Yang nodded wordlessly before standing up and walked away.

"Pyrrha?" Nora asked as Pyrrha watched Yang disappear into the night as well.

"Yes Nora?"

"Is there something you wanna talk about?" She asked but Pyrrha only furrowed her eyebrows and shook her head.

"No, is there something that we should talk about?" Nora exchanged looks with Ren quickly before looking back at her.

"Well it's just that you seem really, off, when Yang was with us now."

"I'm not sure what you mean." Ren looked at her blankly.

"Pyrrha please don't try to lie to us, it's beneath all three of us." Pyrrha closed her eyes and sighed.

"I'm sorry Ren but I really can't explain why." Nora crossed her arms.

"Why not?"

"Because I don't know why either."

"Are you sure?" Pyrrha sighed again.

"Yes Nora, I'm being honest I'm not sure why but something about Yang has been bothering me." Nora nodded.

"Could it be because of Jaune?" Ren asked but Pyrrha just shrugged.

"Possibly, but what makes you think that?"

"Well I notice that you seemed a little off when Jaune told you to stay behind when they went out to Palmwood." Pyrrha nodded.

"I guess I was since I really wanted to help."

"That's understandable so were we but we all couldn't go." Ren noted.

"True and I wouldn't be surprised if you were restless like me. To think that he was in that place where he could have died and we would never truly know unless we went in ourselves, it frightened me." Pyrrha said and saw Nora raise an eyebrow.

"What about the others?" Pyrrha nodded emphatically at that.

"Don't get me wrong I was worried about Sun as well, Blake would have been torn up if he got hurt or died in there as well." This time both Ren and Nora looked at Pyrrha's face carefully.

"What?"

"What about Yang?" Ren asked and it took Pyrrha a moment to realize what they were trying to get it.

"Oh no! I would be saddened at her dying as well; Ruby and Qrow would be heartbroken as well."

"Mhmm." Ren said and Pyrrha felt slightly annoyed at that.

"What?" Nora smiled at the slight heat in Pyrrha's voice.

"Pyrrha we're your friends so please be honest with us, do you like Jaune?" Pyrrha blinked in surprise to hear that question.

"Of course I like him, who doesn't?" Nora shook her head.

"Don't play dumb Pyrrha, I mean do you _like_ him?" Pyrrha suddenly felt very uncomfortable at the moment and looked back towards the dying fire.

"Pyrrha, you're going to have to be honest with yourself more so than us. We've seen the way you two act and how you both look at each other. So tell us, do you like him?" Ren asked this time, Pyrrha took a deep breath through her nose and held it for a little before letting go.

"I can't say for certain what it is that I feel about him but if the point of your question is whether or not I feel something for Jaune that's more than what just friends would feel for each other. Then yes, I do _like_ him but a part of him isn't sure if I should like him." Nora tilted her head a little at that.

"What do you mean?" Pyrrha made a vague gesture with her hands.

"I don't actually know Nora, in the short time we spent before everything went crazy I liked spending time with him and talking to him. Then as things went crazy and the world fell apart that feeling grew even more but I don't know if it's me actually being honest both to myself and to him. I've been thinking about it as much as I can but I just can't figure it out." She said as she tucked her legs in and hugged them. Ren and Nora exchanged looks; this wasn't exactly how they expected this to turn out. The three of them just sat there for a while before Ren and Nora stood up.

"Well we'll go and get some sleep now. Pyrrha you can wake me up in a couple of hours and I'll take over for you." Pyrrha nodded wordlessly as she leaned back onto the ground. A few days ago she would have been a little apprehensive about lying in the dirt with only a blanket separating her but now she didn't care.

She looked into the night sky and marveled at the stars. While she knew there were more stars out there the light pollution of civilization made it hard to see them where they were. However it was still a tranquil sight that helped clear her head of the stress the day had brought on her.

Though she couldn't help but think about what her conversation with Nora and Ren about Jaune. What should she do about that? Should she keep her feelings hidden from him and hope to sort them out. Or should she talk to him about it and see what happens.

Which to be honest it did excite her at the idea of him liking her as well but would she like him because she really did like him. Or did she just like him because he was the leader?

Pyrrha never thought she was the type of girl to go after someone for a power move but for some reason she couldn't help but think that. She pressed the palm of her hands to her eyes; it was too frustrating to know.

She did know that what she's been feeling with Yang has been jealousy or a sense of protection. Though was it because Pyrrha was friends with Jaune or because she liked him and didn't want Yang coming to close to him?

As Pyrrha sat contemplating her stance with Jaune, Mina, Qrow and Karen were on the other side of the cars discussing the day's events around a small fire that Karen had made.

"So you don't know if the Army or Government is holding out in Vale or the north of it?" Qrow asked as he finished the water packet.

"Yup, the last thing any of us heard was 32nd National Guard Regiment was supposed to form up on Grimmer all the way down to Dyer Boulevard. Chief Atkins was also pooling most of the Eastern stations there to support them or plug in any gaps until they could get more military units to bolster the area." Qrow nodded slowly.

"But you came in this direction instead?" Mina nodded.

"We weren't going to be able to get back to them the way things were going. Being overrun by zombies I went the only direction I could think off and that led me to here." Qrow held up his hands.

"Hey I ain't blaming you, I could have come in but me and Alexander decided to get the kids and bail out of the city as well."

"Did you guys have any plan?" Karen asked.

"I'm not sure I think the kid wants us to go south or south east. Maybe he's planning on going to the Minor Kingdoms or something. Though I suspect he's leading us someplace closer"

"Where do you think we'll be going?" Karen asked.

"There are a number of cities and towns that we can check to see how they're faring with the situation. Though there's one in particular city that comes into mind that I can think of in the southeast."

* * *

 **Holy crap this took forever to get out.**

 **I bet more than a few of you were wondering what the hell was taking so long, well I'm wondering the same thing at this point.**

 **Though some of it does have to do with the fact College started and I'm in class from pretty much from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. so I only have a short amount of time to write daily for most of the week.**

 **That being said I will still try to get new chapters out as quick as I can but honestly it'll take me a while to get through them so effectively the wait time is 3 to 4 weeks depending on how much writing I can get done and that's not including the time to edit or research my work.**

 **Anyways I can't really think of much to say at the moment cause I'm fucking tired.**

 **So as always feel free to leave a review, comment, or even PM about what you thought of the chapter or the story in general. Hell it doesn't even have to be about this story but the Lost Sons as well. I'm always happy to read what you've guys leave me.**

 **Till next time!**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Jaune sat up at first light, he could say that he woke up but he didn't feel it would be accurate. Especially when he had been awakened so many times at night because his friends were poorly trying to see if he was still alive or something was a little vexing despite good intentions.

Nora and Ren had been fine, though he didn't really wanna think about the strange sounds he heard Nora making afterwards. Mina had also checked up on him and she didn't make much of a fuss either.

The two trouble makers on the other hand were Yang and Pyrrha.

Yang had woken him up mainly because she started touching him. At first he thought that she was just checking for his pulse but it got a little weird when she moved to his chest where she started to rub it gently.

He had to wake up and stop her when that from happening. Yang of course played it off as doing it as a gift that any man would enjoy at being touched by a beautiful woman.

Then fucking Pyrrha of all people was being weird as well, when she did the same thing but had aimed a little lower, much lower than he was comfortable with. He always thought that he would never understand women but this was just ridiculous.

"Sup little bro." Mina said as she appeared from behind the Navigator, Jaune groaned as he rubbed his face.

"Hey."

"Tired?"

"Tired."

"I can't imagine why." He sighed before taking in his surroundings. The cars had been parked in a semi-circle about a hundred yards from a farm house. He could see Pyrrha, Yang, Ruby, Sun, Neptune and Weiss were up as well. He could see they were all heading to the house together.

"Did you guys check that out?" He asked looking over at her as she stood with her hands on her hips looking to the sky.

"Hm? Oh that? I don't know." He sighed as he stood up and brushed his clothes of dirt before scooping up the blanket he had taken from their meager supplies.

That was something that was on his list of things to do. Aside from fuel they still need a number of items to replace everything they had lost with Coco and her accident. Even with Mina bringing more supplies of her own they were mostly canned food items and water.

He found the whole situation to be somewhat funny. Since the more he thought about it the more he realized how he no longer associated Coco's accident with the death of two sisters but the loss of supplies.

"What the fuck are you thinking?" Mina asked snapping him back to reality.

"I'm sorry what?"

"I asked you what the plan was but you just stood there looking like you were trying to figure out a complex math problem." He blinked.

"That's cause I was thinking about the plan." Mina raised an eyebrow as she crossed her arms, waiting for an explanation.

"I was just thinking that we'll continue to do what I had planned yesterday." She nodded slowly.

"Which is?" Jaune stared blankly at her which just seemed to annoy her more.

"Jesus fucking Christ Jaune I don't know what this plan is of yours, remember I wasn't there." Jaune held up his hands to try and stop his sister from ripping his head off.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. Well, the plan I had come up with was that we send in a small group of people to scout out the town to check for obstacles and how safe it was or wasn't. Afterwards we'd rush in with the path that the scouts looked at to the gas station. Half of us fill up the tanks while the other half guards or salvage what supplies we can find." Mina nodded looking slightly impressed.

"That's not half bad, mixes both careful planning with direct action." She said Jaune nodded and stretched his back.

"We should be ready to move within the hour though so can you make sure the others are up, and then meet up in the house." He said before walking towards the house.

As Mina watched Jaune head over to the house she turned back and walked to the back of the Navigator. Opening the back she took out the jerry cans, each one fill with about five gallons worth of fuel. Karen who had been sleeping in the passenger seat peaked around to look at her.

"What's up?" Mina held up one of the jerry cans.

"Gonna add some fuel to the cars, we're going to head back into town. So get up and get ready." Karen nodded as she yawned while rubbing one eye.

"Need some help with that?" A new voiced asked from behind and Mina turned to see Qrow standing back with his hands in his pockets.

"What a gentleman." Mina said sarcastically as he picked up two of the cans.

"Yeah whatever, just speeding this process along." Mina gave a slow clap before taking two more cans and following him. Karen watched as the two bickered and gave a weary smile, this was even better than her daytime dramas.

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

Jaune stepped onto the porch of the house, inside he could hear laughter. As he reached out for the door handle, someone put their hand on his shoulder and he tried not to scream in surprise as he jumped.

"Whoa! Calm down there Jaune, it's just me." Sun said with Neptune was behind him and both looked very amused at his reaction.

"Jesus, don't surprise me like that will ya? I've got enough things to worry about in my life than you two becoming ninjas." Sun blew a raspberry.

"Becoming? Please Jaune, with my skills I'm already a ninja."

"More like a monkey." Neptune snickered and Sun looked at him.

"You're never going to let that go are you?" Neptune shook his head.

"Watching you eat a banana while you dangled upside down will never not be funny Sun." Sun crossed his arms.

"Well maybe we should talk about the irony of you and the ocean." Neptune squinted at his blonde friend.

"I don't see how that's the same, I keep telling you something really did hit my leg and there was no one nearby." Sun looked back towards Jaune about to tell him the full story when he realized that the other guy had already left.

"Rude."

* * *

 **Inside…**

Jaune walked around the farmhouse, it was fairly large and looked to be something that was well cared for. A loving family must have lived here; he stood looking at a wall in the living room that was decorated with pictures of various moments in the family's history.

Moving past that, he found himself in the kitchen which was also quite large with an adjourning room with a wooden circular table. He immediately set about opening all of the cabinets and drawers but much to his luck most of the food useable food seemed to be gone.

There were a few stray cans of pasta sauce, spam, and sardines. Other than that it seemed as if whoever lived here had cleared out as much as they could before leaving.

Which then brought up a thought of where they were, did they go into town or head to the countryside?

"Jaune?" His thoughts were interrupted when Yang's voice appeared behind him.

"Sup Yang, sleep well?" He asked turning to face her; the young blonde had apparently stripped off her top and was now only wearing a yellow shirt. Jaune had to keep his eyes fixated on her face though due to how well the shirt conformed to her body.

"I supposed I slept as well as I could." He nodded.

"I can understand that sentiment." She raised any eyebrow at that.

"You're not still upset about what happened?" He shrugged.

"I wouldn't say upset, maybe a little annoyed because it was hard to sleep with you guys fussing over me." She grinned when he said that.

"Oh, I bet it was real _hard_ when I was there." He snorted softly at that.

"Don't flatter yourself Yang." She gave a small pout.

"Oh come on, you know you liked it as much as I did."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Jaune said as he crouched down and opened another cabinet. Inside was nothing but cleaning products.

"You're no fun you know that?" Yang said as he stood up to face her, now she was much closer with her hands behind her back leaning slightly forward.

"The issue isn't about me not being able to have fun Yang, the issue is the fact that we're getting ready to head back into town." This took the smile that had been on Yang's face off.

"When?"

"An hour at least, I want everyone to be by the cars and ready by that time." She nodded before pointing up at the ceiling.

"They're taking shower up there, the water and electricity is still working it seems." He nodded.

"Get what you can for now but we shouldn't rely on that forever. I wouldn't be surprised that the grid shuts off soon since it's been a few days but I don't really know that's just speculation." At that moment Ruby, Blake, Ren, Nora, Sun and Neptune entered the house.

"Ren! Look a kitchen!" Nora immediately zeroed in on them with a bright smile on her face. Ren who looked like he was about to fall asleep at any moment said nothing.

"I don't think we'll be making anything Nora, doesn't seem to be any food." Jaune spoke up as he opened the fridge. Inside were eggs, bacon, milk, orange juice and ham. Jaune sighed as Yang leaned her face over his shoulder, a smile wide on her face.

"I'll find you an apron."

* * *

 **30 Minutes Later…**

Jaune set the last plate of food on the table. The dining room was buzzing with conversation as the group chatted amongst themselves. Mina had even swayed Helena to join them, who now sat at in the corner slightly chewing a piece of bacon.

However Ren had told him that she had simply dragged the girl out of the truck despite her feeble protesting.

Jaune stood in the kitchen as he cleaned dishes. He didn't really have to do something like that but it was just so instinctual and natural that he couldn't break it. Plus it was once someone's home, one day he'd like to think that the family would be able to return to it.

"How are you feeling?" Pyrrha's voice broke into his thoughts and he glanced at her. She was holding an empty plate, like everyone else she had taken part in the food that he prepared.

She didn't eat nearly as much as the others had, which he was glad for. Having a full stomach is nice but they what they were going to do and what they might face could easily have them on their knees emptying their stomachs.

"I'm fine, there's no headache and haven't felt anything else off about myself as well." A smile touched her lips as she nodded.

"That's good to hear, a bad concussion can take days if not weeks to heal."

"Yea, something like that happening to any of us would be a dangerous thing not only for them but for the rest of the group as well." He held his hand out to take the plate from her. She thanked him and stood there for another moment but he had already turned around to wash it.

Finishing up he turned around to see that everyone was settling down. Drying his hands on his shirt he walked towards the dining table. Everyone turned too looked at him; he could see each person looked at him as if expecting him to be the man with the plan. Even Qrow, Karen and his older sister looked as if they expected something out of him.

"Alright then, so we're going to go get that fuel now." Jaune said, really unsure of what to say before it clicked.

"Before we get to that, weapon's check. How did the training that Qrow give go?" He asked looking between Blake, Weiss, and Pyrrha.

"I did alright; I could probably handle a handgun in a dire situation for now." Blake said.

"Alright then Sun can help you find a handgun as we leave, Weiss? How about you?" The white hair girl looked surprisingly annoyed but not at him.

"I had trouble." Ruby, who sat behind her, was turning red a little at trying to hold her laughter. Jaune reckoned she must have had a lot of trouble.

"Don't worry about it for now Weiss you're really smart so I'm sure you'll learn in no time." He looked towards Pyrrha.

"What about you Pyrrha?" She looked down at the table and shrugged.

"I did alright." Qrow however stepped in to speak.

"She was best out of the three, learns quick and even improved each time she fired. Out of the three of them I say she needs the least amount of help, practice is still important but other than that the only thing left to determine is how well she handles blood." Jaune nodded to the older man before looking down to meet Pyrrha's gaze as she lifted it up to look at him. He gave her a brief smile and nod before looking at the group as a whole.

"Alright then, we've got some new weapons as well. So I guess we should see how we distribute them. Ruby, Qrow, Karen and Mina you four don't need to change what you've got but you can if you want. Sun, you lost your shotgun so what do you want to replace it?" Sun placed his hands behind his head in thought.

"I mean as much as I want one of those rifles your sister brought but I think I'll stick with a shotgun." Ruby perked up as Sun spoke.

"Oh wait! I just remember, Jaune I fixed the Stag 10 with a scope, do you want that and Sun can take your shotgun?" Sun clapped at that.

"Hell yea, I'll take that then." Jaune chuckled.

"Yea no, I'm totally keeping that. As for the Model 10 why not give it to Pyrrha?" Pyrrha looked startled for some reason.

"Why me?" Jaune shrugged.

"Why not? Qrow says you're a good shot, why not step up your game with this and see how it fits you. Plus I remember seeing you look awfully comfortable with the Model 3 when you came to help us."

"In that case Jaune you should probably take the Model 3." Mina said he looked at her.

"Really?" She nodded.

"I don't see why not, Sun wants your shotgun and Neptune doesn't seem like he cares either way. Besides using a rifle is a lot better." He nodded.

"Fair enough, I'll take the Model 3, Pyrrha gets the Model 10. Neptune you can keep your shotgun for now, and Sun you can have the Shockwave. Ren, Nora, and Blake you three get handguns, though Nora and Ren can take a rifle or shotgun if you want. Yang you can pick either a shotgun or can get a spare F2000 from my sister." Yang looked towards the older girl.

"How much ammunition did you two bring for them?" Karen answered.

"Well we picked up three rifles, and then stripped every magazine we could find so I'd reckon probably got more or less fifty magazines." Sun whistled at hearing that but Jaune shook his head.

"That might sound a lot but if we ever encounter a group of zombies like we did when we raid my dad's shop we could burn through that fast."

"On that note they also would burn through the ammo for the Stag 3 rifles." Qrow noted, Jaune scratched the back of his head in thought.

"There's not much we can do about that for now. If no one else has anything to say then we can start getting ready to move." Weiss leaned her elbows on the table.

"Actually I have something to ask that I think is really important." Jaune nodded to her.

"What is it?"

"What happens if we run into Cinder and her group again?" He tilted his head a little.

"What do you mean?"

"I think she means Cinder's crazy so what should we do if they attack us?" Neptune clarified, Jaune shrugged.

"That's not really complicated; we defend ourselves as best as we can then get out of there as fast as possible."

"That's it?" Blake asked.

"Seriously that's all, we're not soldiers and we're not trained to be in a firefight. The only ones that could do that would be Qrow, Mina and Karen. So I really wouldn't want to burden them with having to protect us all in something like that." Blake nodded and Jaune clapped his hands.

"Alright then Yang and I will take the lead in the Mustang until we're out of Palmwood, Qrow is second, Sun is third and Mina you'll bring up the rear. Now once we're there Ren, Nora, Neptune, Ruby and Pyrrha watch the perimeter for any zombies or survivors. I'll scrounge around for supplies; drivers will be responsible for refueling. Karen can you refill all the jerry cans while we're there?" She nodded as Jaune turned his attention back to the group.

"Alright, we leave in twenty minutes."

* * *

 **Later…**

Jaune sat in the passenger seat of the Mustang as Yang drove towards Palmwood. Looking in the side mirror he could see the others were paced out at forty feet.

He fidgeted with his vest again. It felt weird since he had to replace all his shotgun ammo with full magazine pouches for his rifle which he left unload as it was between his legs.

"Nervous?" Yang asked as she glanced over at him.

"Always but really it's just because the vest feels weird with the magazines."

"Are you really nervous?"

"Why wouldn't I be? Aren't you nervous as well?" She shrugged slightly.

"I guess but if anything it doesn't feel like I'm nervous but more restless."

"I'm pretty sure that's a part of being nervous."

"Is it?"

"Yea."

"Well I'm not."

"Then what?"

"I guess if anything I feel kind of excited."

"Seriously?"

"Totally, this is far more exciting than sports or school."

"That's kind of fucked up isn't it?"

"True, and don't get me wrong I feel bad that people are dying or getting hurt but what can I do about it?"

"Probably avoiding saying that getting into a life or death situation is exciting."

"Come on Jaune, I'm not trying to be callous but you have to understand that this is exciting in a sense. It's like riding a motorcycle at top speed on the freeway. Zooming in between cars with the wind in your face is a sensation few things can beat I say." Jaune stared at Yang for a few moments trying to make sense what she was trying to say.

"Yang, are you an adrenaline junkie?"

"Can you not make it sound like I'm a druggie?"

"I'm sorry and I don't have anything against you being a, thrill seeker, but do you think you can avoid trying to get your heart pumping by risking your life."

"I can think of something you can help me with to get my heart pumping." Jaune snapped his head back towards her.

"What?"

"What?" He shook his head and looked ahead as the two of them sat in silence. Yang pulled to the side as she entered the town limits. Slowing down she took a right onto the off ramp into Palmwood, Jaune pulled out his radio.

"Alright we're closing in on the gas station; keep your eyes out for anything and be sure to call it out." He put the radio back into its pouch before picking up a magazine and examined it. Satisfied at not seeing anything wrong with it he pushed it into the magazine well. As they turned another corner he finally saw the gas station, this time they were approaching it from the north, he could even see the shop they had been in the day before.

"Ready?" He asked.

"I was born ready." Yang said as she quickly pulled in front of a gas pump. Jaune opened the passenger door and stepped around towards the front of the Mustang and quickly pulled the charging handle back on the rifle. Raising the rifle up to his shoulder he scanned the area, to his right was three more rows of pumps and the main shop with an adjourning garage.

He did notice that there hundreds of bullet casings on the floor. Looking to the east he could see a few dozen dead bodies, no doubt killed by Cinder's group. The other cars pulled into the gas pumps and everyone jumped out of the cars, save for Helena who didn't get assigned a job. Which he found unfair for the others but he didn't want to push that issue yet.

He quickly made his way over to the building. Opening the shattered glass front door he saw that most of the contents of the shelves were either gone or trampled on the floor.

Looking over at the counter he could even see that the cash register was busted open. Peering over the counter he felt slightly sick.

Lying on the floor was the clerk; a balding older man was the best he could tell. His face was a mass of red with his flattened nose, broken upper teeth and burst eyeballs. There was blood pooling either in his mouth or around his head, he was most likely dead.

Backing away from the counter he turned to a door marked for employees only. Though he hesitated as traces of blood were on the doorknob, holding the rifle ready he stepped closer.

Standing to the left of the door he reached out with his left hand and flung it open before backing up. Thankfully nothing came that tried to kill him; though there was no light on inside but there was a strong putrid smell.

Stepping closer he reached inside with his free hand, feeling the left side of the wall until he found a switch. As a row of lights sputtered on, he realized he needed to stop investigating things like this.

Next to an over turned chair was the body of what appeared to be a woman. Her intestines had been ripped out and the flesh along the right side of her face was chewed away as well. Blood pooled around her like a picture, a picture on a blood red canvas.

"Jaune?" Yang's voice called out from behind him and he felt a wave of fear pass over his spine.

"Fucking hell Yang, don't scare me like that." He said as he turned around to see Yang with her shotgun in hand standing at the entrance. He quickly turned around and closed the door behind him as she walked towards him.

"What's in the room?" She asked but he shook his head.

"Nothing to look at really." Yang wasn't convinced but the way Jaune was looking at her said enough.

"So anything good in here?" She asked looking at the ransacked shop but Jaune shrugged.

"There are probably some snacks or drinks around but nothing important."

"Shouldn't we take what we can anyways?" He nodded.

"True but let's look in the shop and see if we can grab something in there. It would be nice if we had something to help maintain the cars." She nodded as he headed down a hallway. Following him, they found themselves in another room with three chairs and a small coffee table that had some generic magazines on it.

There was also a window that looked into a dimly lighted mechanic shop. A car sat with its hood open in the middle but Yang couldn't see anyone in it.

Moving to the side she opened another door that led into the shop. The smell of oil was a familiar scent however when she felt something press against the side of her head, she realized that she made a big mistake.

Jaune who still was looking through the window turned around to see Yang with her hands behind her head. A man in a dirty white shirt and light brown khakis held a revolver to the side of her head. He raised his rifle and aimed it towards him but the man clicked his tongue.

"I wouldn't do that kid or the blonde bitch gets it." He said but Jaune didn't lower his rifle.

"Let her go." He grinned as he pushed Yang further into the room, he was trying to inch his way to the exit. Jaune stepped to his left matching the man; the longer he looked at him the more he realized how sickly the man looked. That's when he noticed the bloody teeth marks on his forearm.

"I know you two got some car outside, so fork over the keys kid or I'll blow her fucking skull to bits." Jaune shook his head.

"That's not going to happen." The man smiled but Jaune could see that he was starting to get even more frantic.

"I'll fucking kill you kid! I'll fucking kill you then I'll fuck her after I put a hole in her skull! Give me the fucking keys!" The man screamed shifting the gun to point at him. Jaune did the only think he could think of and fired.

The man's head snapped back and he fell to the ground, dragging Yang with him. Jaune dropped his rifle and rushed to Yang. She was busy prying the dead man's arm off her and wiping traces of blood that had splashed her face.

"Holy shit Yang I'm so sorry." Jaune said as he helped her up. Yang's answer didn't come in words as she placed her hands on the either side of his face and kissed him.

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

Qrow's head snapped towards the sound of a gunshot. Lifting his rifle up him, along with Mina and Pyrrha who had also been the closest to the building were all about to run inside when Jaune got on the radio.

"Everything's alright, just had to deal with something." Qrow pulled his radio out.

"What happened?"

"Some guy got the jump on Yang and tried using her as a hostage, I killed him." Qrow blinked, he didn't expect to hear that.

"Yang, are you okay?" He asked.

"I'm good Uncle Qrow." He ran his other hand through his hair.

"Christ, you gotta be more careful Yang. Next time the person might just kill you instead of going through the effort of taking you hostage." Qrow said.

"I know Uncle Qrow; you don't need to tell me."

"Yang?! Are you okay?" Ruby's voice came over the channel.

"Yea Ruby I'm fine, we're going to check out the mechanic stuff and see if we can get some things now." Yang said the clear undertone that she wanted to end this conversation was evident.

"Actually Qrow, Mina, Sun, how's the refueling going?" Jaune's voice came back over the channel.

"We're all good here Jaune, Karen's finishing up the last of the jerry cans right now so that's about five minutes." Mina said.

"Alright we'll be there, be ready to move in that time." Qrow sighed as he put away the radio and turned back to the truck. Helena was staring at him, he opened the door.

"You really wanna just sit in there kid?" She gave him a humorless smile.

"Would having me standing out there be any different than me sitting in here?" He shrugged.

"You probably be more useful out here than sitting in there being some nihilistic asshole." She raised an eyebrow at that.

"Come on kid, you can't just sit there and do nothing."

"Why not?" Qrow rolled his eyes.

"Because you're doing nothing for the group."

"That's not my fault if you're struggling against the inevitably of death." Qrow sighed; this was going to be annoying.

"Kid there's nothing different between today and a month ago. We're all going to die and we know that. However if your response is to sit there and whine about how we should just lay down and do nothing well you're a fucking idiot. The objective of life isn't to beat death, it's to smile when death comes knowing you've enjoyed your time despite it." He didn't wait for her response as he shut the door and turned to see Jaune and Yang leaving the gas station. Jaune was holding a red tool box.

"We got baddies!" Neptune screamed from afar before the sound of his shotgun firing could be heard.

"Everyone get in! We're leaving now!" Jaune screamed as Yang opened the back of the Mustang, he dumped the tool box and hefted his rifle. He spotted Pyrrha aiming with her rifle and firing slowly at something.

"Yang, start the Mustang I'll be back!" He said running towards Pyrrha before the blonde girl replied. As he closed in he could see that she was firing at group of twenty or more zombies that were sprinting down the way they had come from.

"Pyrrha, we've gotta go!" He yelled as he raised his own rifle and fired half his magazine. He could see the mists of blood as his bullets stitched a line across the first nine. Only three actually fell from the rounds as the rest carried on, heedless of the fact that they had been shot.

Pyrrha emptied the rest of her magazine which downed two more zombies before she reloaded. Jaune did take note that she was able to changed it fast but now wasn't the time to be impressed. He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back, she looked at him surprised.

"We need to move Pyr." He said before letting her go, she looked startled to see him and he could see that she was a little dazed at firing her weapon at a human. Albeit they were zombies that would eat their flesh but that was just a technicality.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry just move!" Jaune said as he started running back to the Mustang. Yang was standing by the driver side door with her shotgun held ready. The passenger door was open so Jaune just hopped in as Yang sat down in the driver seat.

"Go!" Jaune said as he closed the door shut. Yang hit the gas pedal, the Mustang's tire squealed as the tires spun before getting traction and the car shot forward. Jaune looked at the side mirror to see the other cars driving of the gas station a few seconds behind them.

"Oh fuck." Yang said and he turned to look up front just as Yang smashed into a man. The car jumped slightly as the man disappeared below the hood. Beyond him were a dozen more zombies, Yang ploughed through three more zombies. The third rolled onto the hood and smashed its head against the windshield cracking it front of Jaune's face before falling to the side.

"Fucking shit, get us out of here Yang!" Jaune yelled.

"I'm trying!" Yang turned a corner and could see a sign pointing towards the highway. She turned right and felt a smile grow on her face as another zombie was sent under her bumper.

Though a part of that smile was also about what happened earlier in the shop. The face his was looked at how flustered he was by what she did and how his lips felt on hers. It was a thrill that sent her heartbeat through the roof.

In the back of her mind, a small voice that she rarely listened to whispered something that she took to heart. This might cause a problem.

* * *

 **An Hour Later…**

The four cars sped down the highway heading south east. Yang wasn't sure where Jaune was taking them but she trusted him enough to know that he was doing this for their own good.

"Yang." Jaune finally spoke after nearly forty minutes of silence since he had given her the instructions of where to go.

"Yea?"

"About what happened in the gas station…" Yang sighed.

"Jaune there's nothing to discuss." She could see him looking at her out of the corner of her eye.

"Look Jaune, can't you let a girl have her moment?"

"Moment?"

"Yea, a moment to forget about all this shit, I did what I wanted to do and I have no regret about it." Jaune wasn't sure what to say so he looked away again.

"Was that your first kiss Jaune?" Yang asked suddenly.

"Maybe." She smiled.

"Well for what it's worth that was my second kiss ever." Jaune looked at her surprised to hear that, though he felt a little guilty at thinking that as well.

"I know it seems surprising but I guess you could say I just never found a nice guy. I mean there was one guy back in freshman year, he seemed really cool but kissing him was like kissing a pile of Jell-O. Then the longer I knew him the more I realized how much of an asshole he was." Yang chuckled.

"He even had a shitty name; I think it was Henry Marimold or something." Jaune laughed softly.

"So when I kissed you, know it wasn't a spur of a moment thing but something I've wanted to do for a while." Jaune once again wasn't sure what to say at this so he kept silent. They continued to drive for a while until Qrow radioed suggesting that they pull over for a break.

As Yang pulled the Mustang to a stop she turned to look at Jaune. However he didn't look back at her, instead he simply stared at the Stag rifle which rested between his legs once more.

"So…" She said as they sat there.

"What?" Jaune asked as he looked at her. He could see her lilac eyes fixating on his and for the first time since he's gotten to know her, he could see something akin to vulnerability.

"What are you thinking?" She asked, Jaune reached for the door handle and opened the door but paused with his foot outside.

"I don't know."

 **Later that Night…**

Ren watched as Jaune walked off on his own after retrieving his MRE. He found very disconcerting to see him avoid them, both as a friend and someone who would rather prefer the group to not fall apart.

When they had finally picked a spot to spend the night they had settled on a small river embankment off the highway. There they had set up the cars in a rough square to help obscure the fire they had made in the middle.

Though when they had finished setting up camp they all had noticed that something was off about him.

He wasn't the only one to notice as well. Though of the group there was two people who seemed to show the the most obvious effects of his withdrawal was Yang and Pyrrha.

Yang seemed rigid in her actions, most likely because she had an idea of what was going through Jaune's mind. Pyrrha had also noticed that Yang was the clue to what was going on as well and considering what her stance on Jaune was. Well it was safe to say that her interest was very keen on the matter.

"What do you think happened?" Ruby asked the group at dinner. Around the fire was him, Nora, Ruby, Weiss, Pyrrha, Blake, and Helena. Sun, Yang, and Neptune were with Qrow on watch. Mina and Karen were catching up on some sleep. Jaune was nowhere to be seen.

They were all surprised to have Helena with them as well. It had been the first time any of them had really seen Helena outside the truck on her own will. Though she still wasn't much for conversation but no one wanted to force her into doing anything.

"I'm not sure but whatever it is, it must be serious." Blake noted.

"I don't think it's something dangerous for the group or really our business in general." Weiss said Ruby looked pained at hearing that.

"Why not?" Weiss sighed as she put down her MRE packet.

"Just because we're in a group doesn't mean we need to be involved in the personal business of each other."

"But we're all friends; we should help them when they're in trouble." Ruby pointed out.

"Ruby as friends we also need to know when to back off until they ask for us. Pushing ourselves into their matters means we don't have any confidence in them being able to work it out on their own." Ren said, Ruby sighed before lying back onto the ground. The group changed topics but the overall atmosphere was still concerned about what was happening.

"Where do you think Jaune is leading us?" Weiss asked the group.

"He told us to take Highway 608 which leads southeast and also away from where we last heard the Government is holding out."

"But we don't know if that's still the case, we haven't heard anything about the big picture that's going on in Vale. For all we know Vale has completely fallen apart as well." Blake pointed out.

"Aren't there like emergency stations supposed to be active in times of crises?" Ren asked and everyone seemed to ponder that.

"I think Qrow, Mina or Karen would have tuned into that wouldn't they?" Ruby asked but Ren shrugged.

"Maybe, we should ask them when we see them." Ren said as Nora burped before giving a long yawn.

"Tomorrow, I'm kind of sleepy." Ren and Ruby just chuckled as Pyrrha stood up.

"What's up Pyrrha?" Weiss asked the red hair girl just shook her head.

"I'm gonna go look for Jaune." Ren looked up at her.

"You sure?" She nodded.

"Good luck." He called out as she stepped out into the dark, she realized that she had no actual idea what time it was. It was kind of surreal to know that, she had left her phone back at Jaune's house and it only dawned on her that morning when she wasn't awoken to the sound of her alarm.

It was kind of strange at already forgetting about the luxuries of life that she had been enjoying a week earlier. She couldn't use phones; eat delicious food, be on her computer, just to name a few things that she no longer had access to. Even basic things like heating or showers weren't a guarantee anymore.

As she made it past the truck her eyesight started to get adjusted to the night. Though it was still hard to see anything, she did know that the river was close as she could hear the sound of water. She continued slowly towards it, in the corner of her eye she could see a small light was on further down the river on the embankment.

She made her way down the slope towards the river. There she more clearly a tiny flashlight was on so she crept closer until she was able to see that it was in fact Jaune.

"Jaune?" She called out, careful not to let her voice be too loud.

"Yea Pyr?" Jaune replied and she couldn't help but smile at the nickname.

"What are you doing out here?" She asked as she sat down next to him. The ground was cold and a little wet from its proximity to the water.

"I'm just thinking." Jaune said, Pyrrha noticed that it was his flashlight attachment from his Glock in his hand pointed at what looked to be a map.

"What are you thinking about Jaune?" Jaune sighed.

"Just things, like where we're going."

"Is that all?" Jaune turned his head towards her though it was difficult to see his face.

"Do you have something you wanna talk about with me then?"

"Actually yes, I was kind of worried just you were acting strange."

"How so?"

"Well you haven't been very talkative aside from giving us directions on where to go since we left the gas station."

"I don't see the problem." Pyrrha blinked at his response.

"Well it's not exactly conducive in keeping the group together isn't it?"

"I wasn't aware the group was in that sort of trouble Pyrrha"

"Can you not be a dick?" Jaune sighed.

"What do you want from me Pyrrha? An answer to a question that I don't even know how to start to understand, give me a break." She didn't say anything as Jaune set his light aside and groaned in frustration. Though he didn't say anything else and neither did she, the two teens sat quietly in the dark with only the light of Jaune's flashlight.

"Look, Pyrrha, I'm sorry for being so rude." Jaune began.

"It's okay Jaune, I get that this isn't easy. I should have realized that the stress might get to you."

"It's not necessarily that, I mean it's true that it's difficult to think what would be the best for the group or whether or not they'll like my idea or am I going to get someone hurt or killed because I fucked up." Pyrrha looked towards his direction again.

"If it's not that then what's troubling you Jaune?" Jaune wasn't sure how to approach this.

"See the thing is, uh, well you know how before we had to bail from the gas station there was a gunshot?"

"Yea?"

"And you know how I said there was a guy in there that had tried to use Yang as a hostage and I killed him?"

"I heard about that, it must have been really tough to kill him. Is that's what's bothering you?" Jaune did have a problem with what he did but he knew that he would be able to handle that without affecting the group. Or at least he hoped he would be able to handle it.

"The thing that I'm having an issue with is what happened after." He could practically hear Pyrrha snapping her head towards him, though she didn't say anything.

"Well, uh, Yang sort of kissed me."

"She did?" Pyrrha asked, though there was something off about her voice but he couldn't pinpoint it.

"Then we talked about it and it turns out she likes me or at least that's what I gathered from when we talked in the car." Pyrrha didn't say anything as the two of them sat there. Aside from the gurgle of water from the river and chirps of crickets there was nothing but silence.

"So yea that's pretty much what's on my mind, I don't know how to respond to her about this. I don't dislike Yang but I can't say that I like her in the same sense. She's pretty and nice but in the end I'm not interested in her but I don't know how to tell her that without hurting her feelings." Jaune felt his heart starting to hammer as he started to talk more and more.

"I mean if anything if I had to think of someone who I could say that I liked in that manner, well the one only that I can think of is you." He said though Pyrrha didn't reply, turning his flashlight over to where she was he was surprised to see that she wasn't there anymore.

"Ah." He said simply before setting the light aside to sit in the dark.

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

Pyrrha walked almost in a daze back up to the embankment towards the cars. She didn't understand why she left Jaune sitting alone, he had more to say but she couldn't bear to think what it could be.

"Pyrrha?" A voice called out and she looked up to see the last person she wanted to see at the moment. Yang was standing with a flashlight in her hand that was pointed to the ground but it was bright enough to slightly illuminate her face.

"Hello Yang." She said in a neutral tone but Yang must have sensed what her mood was because she grimaced.

"What were you doing out there?" Yang asked.

"I was talking to Jaune." This perked her attention a little more.

"And what were you two talking about?" Yang pressed a little but Pyrrha crossed her arms.

"Oh just about why he was feeling so tense lately. Though I suppose you would know why that would be."

"He told you?"

"Yup."

"What did he say?"

"I don't know I didn't feel like sticking around to hear it." Yang sighed.

"Look Pyrrha I know you liked him and I'm sure you know that I do as well but we shouldn't fight over him like this it was bound to happen." Pyrrha held up a hand.

"No I understand Yang; I suppose I just didn't have the guts to do something like what you did."

"You mean kissing him? No I suppose you couldn't do that, I am a little braver than you in that regard." Yang could feel Pyrrha bristle at her words but at this point there was no need to hide her feelings.

"Come on Pyrrha we both know you're not the type of person to make such a move. I bet if things were normal and the dead weren't coming back to life to kill people, you would still be dropping hints in hopes he would catch on one day. I'm sure that works in whatever silly romance novel you like to read but in the real world, normal people actually express their feelings in a normal way." A small part of her mind realized that probably was uncalled for but at this point she didn't care, go big or go home.

"Kissing a guy after killing a man isn't exactly a normal romantic thing as well." Pyrrha pointed out but Yang snorted.

"Bitch please, that's romantic as fuck." Pyrrha could feel an eye twitch.

"Pyrrha I don't want us to be enemies on this but maybe you should just give up." Pyrrha took a deep breath.

"I don't think so."

"What?"

"Jaune hasn't given you an answer yet, in fact from my perspective it seems he doesn't want to give an answer. So if you don't mind me I think I'll stay the course, you never know the careful victories normally have more meaning over the brief ones." Yang grinned.

"We'll see." At that moment Neptune started screaming and two shotgun blasts could be heard going off quickly. Both girls turned towards the sound and Yang lifted her flashlight to see a woman with a mauled cheek running towards them.

"Shit!" Yang yelled before tossing the flashlight to Pyrrha who caught it and pointed it towards the zombie as Yang brought up her shotgun. Pyrrha blinked away the brief flash as Yang fired; the sound of a body hitting the wet grass could be heard as the others started to yell.

"Over there!" Sun yelled in the distance as more shotgun blasts are overtaken by the rapid crack of rifle fire.

"Come on!" Yang yelled gesturing for Pyrrha to follow her but Pyrrha pointed to her handgun.

"Give me that." Pyrrha said and Yang yanked the handgun out of its holster before handing it grip first to her. She took it and located the safety. She turned it off before she pulled back the slide and turned around back to the embankment.

"Where are you going!?" Yang asked in disbelief.

"Jaune's still out there!"

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

Jaune struggled with whoever was on top of him. He could feel their hands inches from his face as he tried to keep them away from him but it was difficult.

At first he had thought it was Pyrrha returning but when he heard the shotgun fire he knew that he was in trouble again.

The moaning was the indication that something was behind him so he had turned around in time to have something tackle him onto the cold ground. However he couldn't reach for his Glock or the Ka-bar knife that he had kept hooked to his belt without moving one arm.

Worse of all whoever this person once was must have been heavy since he was getting tired of holding them up with their flailing arms.

"Jaune!?" Pyrrha's voiced called out and he could see a light shine on him from his right. Though it quickly shifted away and he could hear the crack of handgun as Pyrrha fired at more zombies.

"Fuck! Hurry up Pyrrha!" Jaune yelled.

"Wait!" She yelled back before firing two more times, the light shined on him and the zombie on top of him. It was an older man with a bald head, though most notable was the fact that the flesh had been torn from his neck and mouth which dripped blood on his shirt.

Jaune looked up to see Pyrrha stand next to them and kick the zombie in the side of the head. The zombie fell to his left and Pyrrha fired three rounds, the sound ringing in his ears. Blinking from the harsh light of Pyrrha's flashlight he looked up again to see her hand reaching down to him.

"Get up." She commanded and he gripped her hand, though he wasn't surprised when she practically lifted him off his back by pulling alone. He got to his feet again and pulled out his Glock which was in its holster that was tucked in on the right side of his waist.

Leaning down he picked up the fallen light attachment and clipped it on. He panned it around as Pyrrha panned with her light. There was still gunfire raging by the camp but nothing was charging them, he looked at her.

"Thanks for coming back for me Pyr." Jaune said the red hair girl gave a small smile before nodding towards the camps. The two teens ran up the grassy embankment, there Yang stood with her shotgun held ready.

Near her was a trio of dead bodies, each showing signs of torn flesh, either by teeth or double-aught buckshot, Jaune wasn't sure.

"You okay Jaune?" Yang asked and he nodded.

"We're fine Yang," At that moment Karen appeared from behind Yang holding her F2000.

"You guys alright?" Jaune nodded again.

"We're good, how's everyone else?" Karen looked over her shoulder.

"We're good as well, no casualties, though Neptune is a little shaken up since he had a close call." Jaune stepped forward following Karen as she turned around to head back towards the center. There he could see that everyone was situated around the campfire looking outwards.

Ren, Nora and Ruby all had handguns in their hands while Qrow, Sun, Neptune and his sister had rifles and shotguns. He could see there were a few dead zombies on the ground, each in various states of having been eaten.

He panned his light down at a woman; he could see that the flesh on her back had been ripped up. Kneeling down he reached out with his free hand and probed the wound.

"You're going to wash your hands right?" Pyrrha asked

"This is fresh." Jaune noted as he stood up.

"Fresh? How can you tell?" Yang asked as Jaune walked towards the others.

"She's still warm." The others turned to him, Ruby and Yang hugging each other quickly. Pyrrha went to stand with Ren and Nora who asked if she was okay.

"Jaune, you run into any out there?" Qrow asked as he joined them.

"Yea but Pyrrha had my back so I'm good." He nodded.

"We're good as well, Neptune had a little scare since they got the jump on him, I checked him for any bite marks or wounds but he's fine." Jaune nodded.

"Anyone else notice that Neptune always has spots the zombies?" Ruby said aloud.

"I guess he had bad luck." Nora replied this brought a small smile out of Weiss.

"If you told him that he'd say it was because of the water." Weiss said much to everyone else's confusion.

"Long story." Blake said and everyone left it alone, Jaune looked towards Qrow again.

"Any idea where they came from?" The older man shook his head.

"No but they have to be nearby."

"I was thinking that as well, they look like they have fresh wounds." Qrow narrowed his eyes at that.

"I'm not the only one that thinks it's weird that these things don't have rigor mortis." Weiss said aloud.

"At this point I think that's the last question on my mind at the moment." Blake noted dryly.

"Alright, everyone gear up we're gonna head out but first Qrow, get Mina, Karen and Sun we're gonna scout the nearby area while everyone packs up I don't want another surprise." He nodded.

"Good idea, we'll be ready in three, so if you're coming with us then go." He nodded before jogging over to the Mustang where he had left his vest, backpack and Stag rifle. Before long he joined back in the center to see Karen, his sister, Qrow, Neptune and Pyrrha.

"Pyrrha shouldn't you be packing with the others?" He asked but the answer was obvious when she gripped the rifle with both hands and stared him down.

"Sun said it would be faster if he helped the others instead of Neptune, besides Qrow said we should head out in pairs." Jaune felt a smile touch his lips a little before it disappeared.

"Alright let's go."

* * *

 **Twenty Minutes Later…**

Pyrrha watched as Jaune went back into the interior of the RV; they had found another camp ten minutes out from their own. There they saw a single RV and a small camp fire that illuminated the area, with obvious signs of people fleeing in a panic as things were strewn about the area.

When they entered the RV it was clear how things may have gone poorly for the people.

There was blood everywhere in the interior but most notable was a pile of blood soaked bandages. Jaune had speculated that one of them must have been infected and turned on the people when they had least suspected it.

From there the group's downfall was sealed, though it still left a bad taste in Pyrrha's mouth when she had seen the amount of blood that had been left in the aftermath. So she had elected to stand outside to signal down the others had they come towards them.

She could see lights in the distance and little wave of relief went through her to see the others. Soon the truck pulled up to her right and Qrow stepped out with his hand on the grip of his sidearm.

"Is he in there?" Qrow asked looking towards her.

"Yea, he wanted to see if there's anything that we can use." Qrow nodded before poking his head back into the truck, most likely to tell the others to stay put.

"So is this where they had come from?" Mina asked as she got out of her Navigator.

"It seems so." Pyrrha replied as Jaune stepped out of the RV holding a brown bag.

"I got some medical supplies, mostly bandages, antibiotic gel and gauze, a few cans of soup, some water bottles along with a map." He set the bag down and pulled something from behind him.

"Also I've got this." It was a black and grey long barrel revolver.

"What is it?" Mina asked as Jaune opened the cylinder to check if it was load.

"I found a box of .44 magnum rounds so I'm gonna go with that." Qrow held out a hand, Jaune handed it over.

"Yea, that's a .44, I guess we have a backup gun if we lose any of the others." Karen looked at the RV.

"Ya know, we could use the RV, I'm sure it probably has a decent amount of fuel in in plus it's big enough that we don't have to worry about seating arrangements." Pyrrha grimaced at the idea as Jaune coughed slightly.

"I don't think that's a good idea, I'm not sure if anyone of us wants to go through the process of cleaning up the blood in there." Karen grunted in acknowledgment.

"Did you guys find anyone else out there?" Jaune asked turned to look at them but he could tell by their expressions it was pointless.

"I guess we should continue moving for a couple of hours, though I don't think we should make camp again, at least for the rest of the night." Qrow nodded and the group turned from him to head back into their cars. Jaune watched as Pyrrha turned away from him he wanted to resume the conversation from earlier and tell her what he was thinking but Yang stepped next to him.

"Come on Jaune." She said with a small smile as she hooked her arm through his and started to pull him over to the Mustang. A part of him wanted to break free but he simply sighed as he followed her. Now wasn't the time it seemed.

* * *

 **The Next Morning…**

Jaune opened his eyes sometime before dawn; he looked over at Yang as she sat back in the driver seat. She was still asleep as far as he could tell. Though he find it slightly amusing to know that she snored, not really loud but it was noticeable.

Picking up his Glock he reached for the door handle and slowly pulled it open. Then stepped outside in the cool air, as he closed the door softly he looked around to take in the surrounding.

They had pulled off the highway again, though they didn't go much further into the grasslands, instead opting to simply on the shoulder. He looked past the cars onto the road; the sound of his shoes stepping onto the road was the only sound to accompany him.

There were no birds, no cars, and no life to be seen or heard.

He looked to his right down the road; in the distance he could see a mountain chain. Sliding his Glock into his waist, he stuffed hands in his pockets he walked down the road towards its direction. He didn't know why but he just needed to be alone.

It hadn't even been a week since things went to hell but in his mind it felt like it's been months. On top of that far too many of his loved ones and friends have been hurt or worse. First was Yatsuhashi dying after getting stabbed by Cardin, which brought the thought of whatever happened to that asshole?

Then hearing from Qrow about his dad, mom and Nessa being killed, that was nothing short of being stabbed in the heart. Then Coco, Velvet, Miriya and Claire getting killed as well by his poor planning, though the rational part of his mind told him there was nothing he could have done it didn't stop the pain.

On the plus side he did meet up with his sister and her friend who ultimately brought up the thought about the wellbeing of Sepherina and Katherine. He didn't know where they were and even if he still had his phone he doubt he could have reached them. He also had to lead the group to safety but he didn't know if there was anywhere safe left to go.

On top of that was the situation with Yang and Pyrrha. After thinking about it for a while he had come to the conclusion that Pyrrha must have been upset when he told her about Yang kissing him. That must have been why she had left without telling him.

Now he needed to figure out what exactly does Pyrrha think about him. Does she like him? If so, what was he going to do about Yang? She had essentially confessed to him but he hasn't given her a definite answer.

No, that shouldn't matter; he needs to give a answer at some point. If he just waits around unsure of when to tell her his feelings it'll only be harder. Afterwards he can focus on how to talk to Pyrrha; nodding to himself he looked back expecting to see the cars nearby. Instead he could barely see them in the distance, he sighed.

"Shit."

* * *

 **Later…**

Ren approached Jaune as he looked over map that was spread across the hood of the Mustang. He could see him marking the map with a pencil, though he noticed that there was a particular area circled.

"Sup Ren." Jaune said without looking at him.

"What are you doing?" He asked as Jaune set the pencil down and stretched his arms over his head. Looking around he spotted the gas station sign, they had set off down the road again when he had returned. Though not before Yang and Pyrrha grilled him with questions about where he had gone off to.

Afterwards they had travelled for a few hours until they found one of the rest stations that were built periodically for people to rest at night or take a break from driving. There, they had raided the vending machines for snacks and bottled drinks.

Qrow, Weiss and him had all gone to the area maps to find anything useful. Though most of it was just local information but he had used them to get better detail of the immediate vicinity.

"I'm just mapping out the area, gas stations, stores, that sort of stuff. It's better to know for sure what's in the area than having to send a small team out to look for something." Ren nodded.

"Yea that sounds like a good plan." Jaune looked at him with a weary smile.

"So how are you?" Ren raised one eyebrow at that but gave his own smile.

"All things considering I'm managing." Jaune nodded.

"And Nora?" Ren chuckled.

"She's doing fine but she really hates being confined inside a car during the day. Night isn't so bad but the fact that she can't go wandering around when's she's bored is going to get to her at some point."

"I don't envy you in dealing with that." Jaune said.

"Don't worry about it; she and Yang tend to do arm wrestling contests so that bleeds some of that excess energy off. Though if worse comes to bare, I'll send her in your direction." Jaune chuckled before his face turned serious.

"Please don't." Ren shook his head as he looked towards the others; they were huddled outside the main building eating some of the food they got from the vending machines.

"So what did you and Pyrrha talk about last night?" Jaune looked towards him.

"What?" Ren looked at him again.

"Jaune don't play dumb, we've all noticed how you were acting weird last night and Pyrrha went to talk with you. So what happened?" Jaune nodded as he scratched the back of his head.

"It's complicated." So Jaune divulge about what happened between him, Pyrrha and Yang. Ren simply nodded and stayed silent the entire time until Jaune finished.

"Well, that is kind of complicated." Ren finally said.

"Tell me about it."

"But it's only as complicated as you make it out to be." Jaune looked to him again.

"I'm pretty sure it's complicated no matter how you look at it." Ren held his hands up stopping him.

"Jaune I'm not saying it isn't complicated but you're only making it more complicated than it needs to be. From where I'm standing you're worried that rejecting Yang would lead to some issue for the group as a whole." He nodded.

"That's understandable, but I think you're underestimating Yang's ability to prioritize what needs to be dealt with at the moment. Ruby is still with the group and she loves Ruby the most so she'll do what she has to do in order to keep her alive. Which means she'll understand your answer and isn't gonna flip out and do something dumb." Jaune nodded slowly.

"And Pyrrha?" Jaune asked.

"What about her?"

"What should I tell her?" Ren looked at him as if he was an idiot.

"Be honest with her as well, what part about that did you not understand?" Jaune shrugged as the two of them turned to see Nora and Pyrrha coming up to them.

"What are you two talking about?" Nora asked placing her hands on her hips.

"Pancakes." Jaune said simply as Ren flashed him a betrayed look, Nora hooked her arms around his neck as she jumped on his back.

"Oh Ren I miss your pancakes." She cried out as she clung to his neck.

"Gah! Nora! Please! We'll get you pancakes! Just wait!" Ren cried in struggling to stay upright with the orange hair girl on his back. Pyrrha and Jaune laughed as they watched the two go, leaving them alone.

"So…" Jaune said as the two of them stood there, Pyrrha nodded slowly.

"So what are you doing with that?" Pyrrha asked as she pointed to the map, Jaune looked down to it.

"Oh I've just been charting down our course and marking down relevant details on the map of the local area." Pyrrha nodded.

"Anything of note?" Jaune scratched his cheek as he looked over it again.

"Not that I can see, there are a few shops, gas stations and grocery stores. So that'll be useful but I had hoped that there would be a gun or camping store but it looks like there's nothing."

"We've got a decent amount of supplies that'll last us a while so nothing to worry about now."

"You're right but I'd still prefer to know that the option is nearby."

"Fair enough." The two teens stood there silent again. Jaune took a deep breath and turned to look at Pyrrha. The red hair girl was looking away from him, but even than he couldn't help but admire her beauty. He shook his head slightly, he needed to stay focused.

"Pyrrha we need to talk." She looked up at him, confusion on her face but he could see the glint of recognition about what it could be.

"What is it Jaune?" She asked her voice seemed slightly strained as she spoke.

"It's about what I told you what happened between me and Yang." He could see her stiffen up, like a spring that was being spun too tightly.

"Ah, yes, I suppose you and Yang are going to be a thing now?" Pyrrha wasn't happy to see that she couldn't beat Yang despite what she told her last night.

"Pyrrha that's…"

"I'm happy for you two." Pyrrha continued heedless of him trying to stop her. She turned away again but this time he grabbed her hand. She never really took into account how strong Jaune actually was since he gripped her hand hard enough that it hurt.

"Jaune?" She asked in disbelief as he pulled her towards him to the point they were inches from each other's face.

"Pyrrha let me finish. Please." He said after a tense moment as he let go. Pyrrha rubbed her hand softly as Jaune looked bashfully to the ground.

"Pyrrha, I was trying to say last night before you left that I don't feel the same way about Yang. I like her, I really do but I don't think I can like her in the way she wants me too. The only person I could say at this very moment that I can like in that manner is you." Pyrrha blinked unsure whether or not she was dreaming.

"Really?" Jaune smiled sheepishly.

"Yea…"

"Are you two gonna kiss now or what?" Mina's voice cut through the moment like a hot knife through butter. The two teens took involuntary steps away from each other.

"Mina!? What do you want?" Jaune asked; face red from being Mina's arrival into their moment.

"I was coming here to figure out when we're gonna go to wherever you're taking us." Mina said waving her hand nonchalantly.

"Oh, is that it?" The older girl shrugged.

"That was my original purpose, yes." Jaune sighed as he ran a hand through his hair.

"Alright fine, we should go in another ten minutes. With luck we should be closing in on it within the next day or so." Mina raised an eyebrow at that.

"Actually about that, I'm curious about where it is we're going. None of us have been able to figure out where you're leading us." Jaune looked surprised.

"You guys haven't figured it out?" He asked looking at Pyrrha now, she shook her head.

"We talked about it when we set up camp last night but none of us have a sure idea." Jaune gestured them over as he stepped towards the map. Pulling out his pencil he circled something on the map before writing and circling something else.

Mina and Pyrrha both stepped forward, next to one circle were words saying where they currently were. Looking down at the next circle, Pyrrha's eyes widen in surprise and fear as she whispered the name he circled.

"Mountain Glenn."

* * *

 **Poor Jaune, always getting attacked from behind. He should really be mindful of his surroundings.**

 **But what's this? Romantic feelings are sprouting between Jaune and Pyrrha? Who would have seen that coming?**

 **Anyways as you may have all noticed this chapter was faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar shorter than the others, the main reason being is the fact that I'm a full time student so a lot of my time is eaten up by class and studying. So I suppose any future Chapters for this story will mostly likely not be ranging 20+ thousands words, I know you're heartbroken to hear that but it's not you it's me.**

 **On a side note I've also started the "1st" Chapter of The Lost Sons. I don't have a time line of when it'll be done but it's getting there.**

 **Let's see, yup, I don't have anything to say at the moment so that's it for me.**

 **So feel free to leave a comment, review or PM anything you want or have to say.**

 **Till next time!**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Jaune studied his map as he nibbled on a half-eaten granola bar. He was positive that there wasn't anything truly worth stopping for aside from a few grocery stores and gas stations in the local area but he wanted to double check.

If he wanted to go after them though, he would need to bring it up after he finally talked to the group about his plan.

Pyrrha and Mina had been really surprised to see that he wanted to go to Mountain Glenn. It was a relatively large city, with a population in the millions that also happened to be in a relatively difficult place to get to with all of the mountain roads and bridges.

So it was hard to reach place which would also meant that it would be hard to leave. Now if he mixed that in with the possibility of running in hundreds of thousands if not millions of zombies. He could understand why they would be hesitant on endorsing the plan.

"Jaune!" Nora's voiced called out to him and he looked up to see the orange hair girl running towards him. The first thought that entered his head was a group of zombies were heading this way if not that, it was Cinder which in his mind was just as bad. He snatched up his rifle which he had left on the hood of the Mustang.

"What is it Nora?" Jaune asked walking towards her; he could see Ren behind her gathering the others to the parking lot.

"There's a group of cars heading this way."

"How many are there?" She shook her head.

"I don't know Ren was the one who spotted them." He nodded and the two of them jogged over to the rest of the group, Ren turned to look at him.

"I counted a dozen cars and three box trucks." Ren said as he handed Jaune his binoculars, raising them up he scanned the road. It took him a little while until he found the column, what was leading them though made his heart sink.

"Everyone get your weapons and get behind the building, Qrow, Karen and Mina find someplace where you can get a better angle on them if they come towards us. Ruby I want you to get some distance from here and find a spot to support us if necessary." Ruby looked hesitant.

"Are we really going to fight them?" Jaune looked down at the younger girl and tried to smile reassuringly.

"I hope not but I don't want to take any chances." The younger girl nodded slowly before taking off towards the countryside. There were trees and a few elevated areas for her to hold up in but ultimately it was up to her.

"Jaune, what makes you think they're hostile?" Qrow asked and Jaune handed him the binoculars.

"Look at what's leading them." He said as Qrow lifted it to his eyes.

"Holy shit." Qrow said as he lowered the binoculars and turned to the others who still stood around watching him.

"You heard him, get going!" Qrow said and everyone burst into action, gathering weapons or locking down their supplies in the cars. As Qrow turned towards Mina and Karen to start discussing where to position themselves, Jaune turned away to head towards the main building.

"Jaune, where are you going?" Mina called out to him; he turned to look at her.

"I'm going to join with the others."

"Why? You've got a rifle; you can pick a spot as well to ambush them." Jaune thought about it for a second and nodded.

"Alright I'll take the main entrance, there's a ditch to the right which I can take cover in so they won't notice me unless they jump in as well." Karen said.

"I'll be by those trees, they'll provide a decent enough cover against small arms fire and it's right next to the highway so I can always just head to the other side to draw their fire." Mina spoke up pointing to her left where a dozen trees were lined up between the rest area and the road.

"Alright I'll take the exit road, there's a ditch there as well." Qrow said and the three of them looked towards Jaune who was still scanning the area; he looked over his shoulder at them. He pointed to a patch of trees and picnic benches that were to the right of the rest area's main building.

"I think I'll go there, it's close to the main building in case the others need help and I can help Karen if she needs it as well. Plus in that position we'll have a cross fire that directs the attention away from the others." Mina nodded.

"Sounds like a good position" She turned to Qrow.

"You think Ruby can hit them?" Jaune furrowed his eyebrows.

"She seems like a pretty good shot." Qrow shook his head.

"No Jaune, she's asking if Ruby can shoot to kill a person." Jaune nearly slapped his forehead as he remembered that.

"Right, that." He said as Qrow rubbed his chin.

"I think she'll be a little hesitant at first but I think when push comes to shove, she'll be able to do it."

"They're almost here!" Karen hissed to them and they scattered. Jaune sprinted as fast as he could towards the picnic area. He quickly went behind the largest tree he could find and kneeled down. He gripped the Stag rifle with both hands but kept it pointed down as he peered around the tree trunk.

The convoy finally slowed down and started to pull into the rest area and he could see that Ren was completely wrong at how many there were. There were at least four pickup trucks, several SUVs, and another five vans. In addition to that there were six box trucks and one fuel truck.

Though what really worried him was the green military grade Humvee that was leading the convoy. Most notably was that it looked to have a M2 Machine gun on top of it with what looked to be a soldier manning it.

"I think these people might just be soldiers escorting some civilians." Qrow's voice came out the radio making Jaune jump a little, he pulled the radio out of his vest pocket.

"Qrow's right but there doesn't seem to be a lot of soldiers, maybe they're deserters." Mina's voice came over the channel next; Jaune wasn't sure what to do in this situation.

A small part of his mind thought about how awesome it would be to see if they could get some supplies off these people but he knew the risk outweighed the benefits by a wide margin.

"Let's not do anything rash, so keep your heads down." Jaune said as he clicked the talk function on his radio.

"Yea but what if they sabotage our cars or steal our supplies?" Karen asked.

"If we can get a shot on the guy manning the M2 then we might stand a chance but even then I doubt getting into a firefight would do us any good." Jaune said, at that moment it seemed the convoy had different ideas. Jaune looked up to see a man climbing on top of the Humvee with a megaphone.

"Alright kiddos! We know you're out there! We also have your supplies and vehicles in easy reach, so if you don't want to walk to wherever the fuck you're going, I suggest you come on out where we can see you!" A cheerful voice called out.

"Shit, what do we do?" Karen asked and Jaune gritted his teeth. There was no winning this situation, they couldn't run away without condemning themselves to death nor could they fight without some or all of them dying. Jaune took a deep breath and sighed as an incredibly dumb idea went into his mind.

"I'll handle it." He said into the walkie talkie before turning down the volume on it and stuffing it back into his pocket. Standing up, he stepped out from behind the tree and could see a dozen armed men and women in the parking lot. Most of them seemed to be soldiers, while a few looked like regular people.

"Ah! You there! I see you're armed, please clear your rifle and leave it on that picnic table behind you, then you may come!" The man called out and Jaune complied, stripping the magazine from his rifle before setting it on the table. He turned around, holding his hands up to show that he was disarmed then put them behind his head as he proceeded to walk slowly to them.

Three of them, a man and two women met him halfway with M4 carbines aimed towards him. He could feel a cold sweat break out on his skin as they closed in. All three were dressed in full combat uniform, one of the women pulled his Glock from its holster followed by the Ka-bar knife and tossed them to the ground she nodded to the others.

"You twitch in any way man; I'll put a round in your fucking skull." The man said as Jaune walked past him. The man on the Humvee jumped down, Jaune could see that he was dressed oddly. He was a tall man with pale skin and orange hair. He wore a black suit with a grey waistcoat and tie with a white dress shirt underneath along with black dress shoes.

"I know what you're thinking, why am I, a finely dressed man that is, still looking like this when the world is going to hell." The orange hair man said with a smile as he leaned forward and tapped his forehead which Jaune found rather annoying.

"Well kiddo, just because the world has gone to hell doesn't mean I can't look good at its funeral. Like my old man used to say, if you can't do it in style then what's the point of doing it at all?" The man straightened up and the smile that had been on his face disappeared.

"Now, are you and your buddies going to cause us trouble?" Jaune blinked then shook his head.

"Well sir, I can ask you the same can't I?" The man grinned this time but it didn't seem like a very friendly grin.

"I like the respect kid but let's not fuck around here; I won't cause you any trouble if you won't cause me trouble." Jaune licked his bottom lip a little as he nodded.

"Seeing as there are soldiers protecting you, I'd rather we stay on good terms as well." The man's grinned widen to a full smile.

"Excellent, I was never much of a fan of violence anyways." He lightly slapped Jaunes arm before looking at the people that surrounded them with their weapons either pointed outwards or at him.

"Alright folks, let's set shop here for now, we've got some customers!" Everyone scattered and Jaune was surprised to see more people exiting the cars, men, women and even children. Most of them were armed as well, though not to the extent as the soldiers, they held simple rifles, shotguns and handguns.

"So kid, you got a name?" The man asked as Jaune turned to look at him again, he was lighting up a cigar in his mouth.

"Jaune Arc." The man let out a puff of smoke as he tucked his lighter away then held out his hand to which Jaune gripped.

"Nice to meet ya kid, my name's Roman Torchwick."

* * *

 **Later…**

Pyrrha sat on one of the nearby picnic benches watching as Jaune, Weiss and Qrow inspected their supplies. They were sorting them out to see if they could trade for supplies from Roman.

It turned out that he was technically a deserter from the Valean Army. Though from what she heard from some of the other soldiers was how he had been a really good Quartermaster in their Division. His position had coincided well with his natural ability to apparently find any contraband a soldier wanted.

Seeing how they had what looked to be a hundred times the amount of food, water, fuel, weapons, clothes and other supplies. Pyrrha was inclined to truly believe them at his ability to find things.

He had been generous enough to give them four boxes of Army MREs and two large packets of water bottles with twenty bottles each. Along with that he also topped off the fuel tanks of all their cars.

However he wasn't willing to give more without a trade of something with equal or greater value. So Jaune, Qrow, and Weiss surprisingly enough had decided to go through their supplies to find something to trade with.

The others had gone to mingle with the people in Roman's group. Mostly it seemed that everyone was discussing how they managed to find their way into Roman's care.

There were quite a few stories like Roman coming to the rescue of a family stuck in a convenience store. Pyrrha suspected that saving them wasn't intentional just a byproduct of him trying to get what he needed. To even clashing with another group of soldiers who deserted while he hotwired the fuel truck for them to take.

"Hey Pyrrha." She turned to see Nora walking up to her.

"Hi Nora, where's Ren?" The quiet teen was surprisingly not with her, the orange hair girl shrugged.

"I think I saw him talking with someone from Roman's group."

"Ah." Nora said as she sat down next to her.

"So what's up? How come you're not talking with anyone, I figured you'd want to hear what they know about Vale." Pyrrha shook her head.

"I don't think it's really important to find out the details unless the Government is making headway on beating the zombies. Which I doubt is the case since there are soldiers here that are apparently deserting." Nora nodded.

"Fair point, but at least they're not trying to kill us." Pyrrha felt a smile tug at her lips.

"Yes I suppose that's good enough for now." The two girls laughed for a few moments before it died down. As they sat there, Nora nodded in Jaune's direction.

"So what's up between the two of you?" Pyrrha looked up at him before looking towards Nora.

"What do you mean?" Nora stared at Pyrrha unblinkingly until Pyrrha finally gave in.

"Okay, fine." A smile split Nora's face as she rubbed her hands together.

"Tell Momma Nora everything." She said with glee as Pyrrha sighed before proceeding to give her the complete run down of the last few days. Nora nodded and made sounds of acknowledgement before finally squealing as Pyrrha ended her tale.

"I'm so happy!" She exclaimed and Pyrrha nodded as Nora leaned back, a thoughtful look coming over her face.

"So what's going to happen with Yang?" Pyrrha shrugged.

"I'm not sure but all I know is that Jaune can be the only one to handle that. I probably shouldn't even be there when it does come up because she might think that I'm pressuring him or something." Nora tilted her head a little.

"Maybe but that would only happen if she's really nuts about this and I doubt she'll let that happen. Again maybe something will come up with her but I wouldn't worry about it if I were you." Pyrrha held her hand palm down and shook it in a vague gesture.

"I guess but I still think that Jaune would have to do this on his own, once that's over with then I'll talk to her one on one." Nora nodded a little.

"So what's gonna be the plan after this?" Nora asked looking at her again but Pyrrha shrugged.

"I can't say for sure, I know Jaune's got an idea on where he wants us to go but I'm not so sure about it." Nora tilted her head a little in thought.

"Where does he want to go?" Pyrrha glanced over at Jaune in case he might be looking at them before looking at Nora.

"He wants to go to Mountain Glenn." Her eyes widened in surprise at hearing this.

"Mountain Glenn? Why?" Pyrrha shook her head.

"I don't know but Jaune wants to go." Pyrrha said looking over at Jaune again; his face looked intense as he looked over the things on the table.

"Well if that's where he wants to go then I've got no problems with it." Nora said as she stretched her arms over her head, Pyrrha smiled.

"Me too."

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

Jaune could see Pyrrha and Nora talking in the corner of his eye. No doubt Nora was probably drilling Pyrrha for answers about them and his plan but he couldn't be sure. Shaking his head he looked down at the picnic table once more.

Resting on it was the M40 rifle that Ruby took the scope off of, Pyrrha's Mossberg 500 which she had stopped using since she had the Model 10, the .44 revolver along with its box of ammunition, and the spare F2000. There really wasn't anything else they could give though; he scratched the back of his head trying to think.

"You're gonna rip all of your hair out if you keep scratching at it like that." A cool voice said from behind and he looked over his shoulder to see Weiss looking up to him.

"I know but I just can't think of something to barter with." She looked down at the weapons.

"Is it really a good idea to give these away?" She asked and Jaune shrugged.

"Yes, no…I don't really know actually but if we do want something we'll need to have something to give in return."

"Then shouldn't we see what he has before we check what we have?" Weiss asked but Jaune shook his head.

"I feel it would be better going in knowing what we can trade for sure before looking at what he has." Weiss nodded.

"Fair enough but still I don't think we should limit it to just weapons." Jaune sighed.

"I get that especially since we don't have a lot of weapons to give away but we don't have a lot of things otherwise."

"Well we can put up a box of MREs or the freeze dried food, we still have enough to spare plus we can just go look for more supplies in the nearby areas." Jaune scratched the back of his head in thought.

"I'm going to have to agree with her." Qrow chimed in; he had been double checking to make sure the weapons didn't have any damaged parts, Jaune sighed.

"I suppose, we've still got a bag of canned food items so I guess we can put two boxes up as bartering items, one MRE and the other the freeze dried food box maybe even another M40." Jaune said and Qrow stepped away to go get the items. Jaune looked at Weiss as she studied the items on the table.

"Weiss, do you want to be the one to lead the trade?" The white hair girl looked at him with mild surprise.

"Shouldn't you do it since you technically the group leader?" Jaune shrugged.

"A leader should know the strengths and weaknesses of his people. Also I'm pretty sure you were the Debate Club's leader since freshman year as well plus with your family's business I figured you'd have some insight of how to strike a good deal." She nodded like a teacher that was approving a student's answer.

"Alright I'll help but I'll need you to come as well, while I could strike a deal I wouldn't know what would be the best to look for in terms of weapons and basic survival gear." Jaune nodded as Qrow, Sun and Blake joined them.

"Sup guys! What are ya'll talking about?" Sun said as he placed one of the food boxes on the table as Qrow set the other down.

"I was just asking if Weiss can lead the negotiations with Roman." Jaune could see Blake making a sour face at his name

"What's up Blake?" He asked and the raven hair girl looked slightly startled at being called out.

"It's nothing to worry about; I'm just not comfortable with him." Sun turned to face Blake at this, his face turning serious.

"Did he do something?" He asked in a low voice but Blake shook her head.

"You don't have to worry he hasn't done anything to me like that, I'm just not really sure how to describe it but it's like I have this gut feeling that we shouldn't trust him." Jaune raised an eyebrow.

"Do you think he'll betray us?" Blake shrugged.

"Like I said I don't really know what to say but I know that something doesn't sit right with me."

"In either case there are things that he has that we don't, it would be best if we do try to get something out of this." Weiss pointed out.

"Alright then, I suppose we should get the trade started." Jaune said and surprisingly Weiss flashed a brief smile at him.

"Let's go, partner."

* * *

 **10 Minutes Later…**

Jaune and Weiss stood in front of Roman as he exhaled a ring of smoke. He was sitting on the hood of the Humvee when they had approached him. Jaune had watched as Weiss and Roman started talking but for the life of him he didn't understand what they were really saying.

It was like they were having two different conversations at the same time. Roman would say one thing that seemed like a compliment but he got the impression from Weiss was it was anything but nice.

"Alright then, so Ms. Schnee, what would you like to trade for?" Roman said and Weiss turned to Jaune.

"Before we go any farther Roman, I think it's for the best of both of us if we get to see a manifest of what you have." Roman looked towards him with a smile but Jaune could see that in his eyes that he was thinking deeply.

"I don't see why not." He said as he closed his eyes with a wide smile, stepping to the side he bent at the waist and extended a hand towards one of the box trucks. Stepping forward they made their way to one of the box trucks where two men in blue overalls were smoking and chatting with each other.

"Oi! Open the back, we've got some customers." The two men stood straight and nodded before going around to the back of the truck. The three of them followed as the door was pushed up, Jaune could see stacks of crates and boxes in it filled most of the space.

Hanging off the side of the truck was a clipboard; Roman picked it up and flipped through the pages. Before sighing and setting it back on the hook, he looked to them and gestured.

"Well kiddos, take a look." Jaune climbed up first and extended his hand down to pull Weiss up after him. Once in he took the clipboard, looking through it he could see that they were in fact a well-stocked group.

"Holy crap is that really how many things are in here?" Jaune said aloud.

"Pretty much, twenty boxes of MREs, fifteen boxes of water canteens that are already filled along with six of those five gallon water jugs, then we also have a seven bags of medical supplies, mainly the emergency kits that my boys picked up on our way out of Vale though. I also haven't had the time to go through them so for all I know they're just filled with gauze. We also have tents, radios, knives, hatchets, sleeping bags, water purifying tablets, road flares, all kind of batteries, flashlights, weapons, weapon attachments, weapon cleaning kits, ammunition and much more. Along with that we've got a fuel truck with more than eight thousand gallons of fuel in it so if ya got something to put fuel in I can be talked into sparing some." Jaune looked at the weapon section on the list.

There were supposedly fourteen knives, though what type they were it didn't say along with six hatchets and three machetes. Moving over to firearms, they didn't specify what they were either but the count was eight shotguns, two dozen handguns, seven bolt action rifles, and a dozen automatic rifles.

Though the section below it listed the ammunition in terms of caliber and boxes but there was no definite number of how much there actually was.

"Hey Roman." The man looked over his shoulder towards him and took the cigar out of his mouth to exhale a cloud of smoke.

"Yea kid?" Jaune held up the clipboard.

"The ammunition section on the manifest only talks about how many boxes there are for each caliber. Mind enlightening me on how many there are?" Roman nodded.

"Let's see we're mostly using only the cans for a fifty so, let's see, a single box holds around 2,000 rounds of 9mm, 1,200 for .45ACP, about 500 rounds of .308, 120 shells of twelve gauge shells, and 1,200 rounds for 5.56. We also have magazines for a number of weapons for the rounds to go into, that's on the third page if you wanna check that out." Jaune felt his eyes widen at hearing that and looked down at the manifest once more.

Each category has at least ten boxes or more written next to them. However the nine millimeter and the five point five six millimeter rounds had closer to two dozen boxes for each of them.

"I can see you're struggling to wrap your head around those numbers, I assume you don't have that much to use in your own group then." Roman said.

"I guess you could say that." Jaune as Roman smiled.

"Well if you join my group you'd have reasonable access to all these goodies plus a share of anything you find when we go on our little hunts." Jaune was tempted by the idea but something about the way he phrased that rubbed him the wrong way. Aside from that he knew the group wouldn't endorse that idea as well.

"Yea, I'm going to have to get back to you on that." Roman shrugged.

"So be it." Jaune turned away to see Weiss looking over the supplies.

"See anything of interest?" He asked as he handed her the clipboard.

"I suspect that you've got an interest in the weapons." Jaune nodded.

"I do but that doesn't mean they're the only thing on my mind. I think getting some of those camping supplies, like the tents, a few fire starters, along with sanitary items and medical supplies."

"Sanitary items?" She asked.

"You know, toiletries, that sort of stuff. It's good to have familiar things like that as much as we can for now. Plus we'll need soap bars, hand soap or hand sanitizers since we could easily come into contact with any number of pathogens." Weiss nodded approvingly.

"It's nice to see that you're still thinking of our needs besides just weapons." Jaune raised an eyebrow at her.

"Why wouldn't I be? You guys entrusted me to pretty much lead the group, what kind of person would I be if I didn't try to think of all of our needs?"

"I'm sorry if I sounded ruder than I meant, I was just trying to say that you've accustomed quite well to it." Jaune shook his head.

"I wouldn't say that, there are a lot of things that I don't know nor would I ever pretend to know. I can just as easily get everyone killed as I can help them."

"That's kind of morbid."

"Well I feel like I should be morbid, getting complacent might prove me right of this pessimistic thought."

"True but if you start jumping at every shadow you're gonna break before we do." Jaune chuckled softly but it began to grow into a full blown laughter to the point that Roman turned to watch them curiosity evident on his face. Jaune didn't know why he was laughing he just felt the urge to do it, like a burning sensation in his chest. It wasn't long until he finally quieted down, wiping away a tear in the corner of his eye.

"Uh, what was that?" Roman asked and Jaune turned with a smile on his face.

"Sorry, I just needed to let off some tension." Roman nodded slowly before turning away, shaking his head as he did muttering about how weird he was.

"Are you really okay?" Weiss asked, Jaune looked at her and was surprised to see concern written on her face.

"I'm fine Weiss; now let's figure what we can get."

* * *

 **A Few Moments Later…**

Jaune set down the two boxes of food on a table along with Weiss who had carried the F2000. Arrayed on the table were the two food boxes, the F2000, two of the M40 rifles, the .44 revolver along with its ammo, and the Mossberg 500.

Roman looked down at them inspecting the weapons. He picked up the .44 magnum and aimed at a tree nearby, though he didn't fire since there were no bullets in it. Nodding he set it down before picking up the F2000 and Jaune could see the barest hints of a smile on his face.

"Now ain't this a pretty sight, a little big but it's still so much more fetching than the standard crap. Sure they get the job done but there are so many better options out there." Roman set it down on the table and nodded a little.

"Alright tell me what you need and we'll see what ya get." Jaune turned to Weiss who handed a piece of paper to Roman. Opening it Jaune could see Roman looking through what they had written before looking back to the table.

"The F2000 and the M40 rifles can get you the one box of 9mm and 5.56mm rounds. The revolver and its ammo are good for only one medical kit though. The Mossberg alone is good for some stuff; I'd say four bar soaps and six tiny hand sanitizer bottles. If you wanna kick up some ammo along with that I'll add in some toothbrushes and toothpaste. As for the parts and kits for the weapons you haven't given anything that could get that. " Roman said as he crossed his arms, Jaune tilted his head.

"Really? That's it?" Roman nodded.

"Yea, you're asking for a lot but not giving much in return kid. Sure guns, ammo and food are nice but that isn't exactly a problem for us. That being said with what you're offering it's not much of a return on what you're asking me to give you." Jaune exchanged looks with Weiss. There weren't a lot of things they could offer aside from more food, which Jaune didn't really want to let go unless it was really important.

"What about information?" Weiss spoke up; Roman raised an eyebrow as he looked at her.

"Pray tell what information do you have to give?"

"We have local information on shops and stores where you can loot." Roman nodded a little.

"Interesting, also it's not looting, it's scavenging. We need the supplies we pick up just as much as anyone else; the only difference is we won't put a bullet in your pretty head when you can ask for supplies." Weiss's face flushed a little at that before speaking again.

"So with that on the table, what will that do for us?" Roman looked down at his hands as he flexed them before looking up.

"It would depend on the information; we know there aren't going to be any major areas for supplies aside from food and fuel so I'll add the tooth brushes and tooth paste." Weiss wrinkled her nose.

"That doesn't exactly sound fair if you ask me." Roman raised an eyebrow at that.

"Of course it's not fair, this is business."

"What about information about enemies?" Jaune asked and he could see that Roman's demeanor changed drastically, like a spring that was being tightened.

"And what do you mean by that?" Roman's voice dropped low giving Jaune a hard stare, Jaune raised his hands to prevent things from escalating.

"I mean we've run into a well-armed group that's more than willing to use violence for their own gain." Roman loosened up a little but Jaune could still see that he was alert.

"So you've met this people?" Jaune nodded.

"We ran into them twice, the first time was when we were scouting out a gas station and we saw them gun down a group of people for no apparent reason. The second time we encountered a smaller section of them that tried to forcefully draft us but we scared them off by getting the drop on them." Roman nodded.

"How many did you kill?" Jaune shook his head.

"We didn't kill any of them, we just had a standoff though there was a small portion the second time plus it was late at night so I reckon they didn't want to get into a firefight in the dark." Roman crossed his arms.

"Alright, what can you tell me about them? Numbers? Weapons? Were they soldiers?" Jaune scratched his chin in thought.

"Well from what we could see, there were at least three dozen of them the first time we saw them, they're all well-equipped. They were the reason why we managed to get our hands on the F2000 there. As for them being soldiers, I'm pretty sure they weren't but they did look to have training. If I had to speculate I would say they reminded me a lot of a PMC." Roman nodded.

"It sounds like they are, especially if they have weapons like these." He said tapping the side of the F2000.

"We know they'll be either trying to eliminate competition of other groups or trying to muscle in on any attempts to get supplies. Along with that they're more likely than not willing to try to force people to join them. Either by lying or using force." Roman rubbed his chin.

"Okay, then this was actually really important information. Especially since we're heading south after this." Jaune tilted his head a little in confusion.

"South?"

"Yea, I got some other information that Avalon had the 77th Infantry is holding up there." Jaune perked up at hearing this.

"How do you know?" Roman jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the Humvee.

"We monitor the radio chatter and as far as we can tell, Avalon, Nysa, and Mountain Glenn are all viable places to be south of Vale."

"What about north?" Weiss asked and Roman shrugged.

"Atlas seems like a good place more so than the Valean cities up north, but I don't know for sure since the last thing we heard before getting out of Vale was the 12th Infantry Division was holding out at Beacon University."

"They're at Beacon University?" Jaune was surprised to hear that. Beacon University was Vale's largest learning institution boasting an enrollment of nearly sixty thousand students, eight thousand faculty and academic staff members on a campus that covered nearly six thousand acres of land. It wasn't in Vale but it was still relatively close to the eastern limits of the city by being only forty minutes by car.

"I don't know what's going on there all I know was that it hadn't fallen yet." Jaune nodded.

"So Mountain Glenn is still safe?" Roman shrugged.

"I'm not a hundred percent sure that it's safe but is anything really safe?"

"I suppose." Roman clapped his hands.

"Well thank you for that valuable piece of information, as reward I'll bring everything you wanted plus some more to you." Jaune held up his hands.

"You don't need to do that." Roman stopped him by holding up a finger.

"I think I shall do what I see fit, think of it as a show of good faith. That way if we ever meet each other again after this, you'll have me in a special place in your heart. Anyways I'll have my assistant come and find you when I've got everything together." Roman said before walking away leaving Jaune and Weiss by themselves.

"Well that went better than expected." Jaune spoke up first.

"Indeed, we didn't have to give up any more of our supplies to get what we needed." Weiss remarked.

"I mean we could have sacrificed another box or two of food supplies." Jaune mused aloud but Weiss shook her head.

"We'd have to give more than just a few boxes Jaune, if we wanted to actually get the supplies we needed we would have had to at least given him half of what we had." Jaune frowned as he looked at her.

"Really? I don't think he'll have wanted to cripple our group, it wouldn't have done him any good."

"I think it would have worked well into his favor to do that, he'll know what state we would have been in and given a couple of weeks we'd be desperate for supplies judging by how well his group is gathering resources. All they would have to do is find out where you're leading us then move past us to scour any of the good locations to keep us deprived of resources then wait us out before taking what we had left. It's like buying out contracts from the competition till they either don't have enough contracts in which case they start losing money that would lead them to financial collapse or put them into a position to be bought. It's short term loss with long term benefits." Jaune shook his head.

"I get where you're going with that Weiss but that wouldn't work in this situation. This isn't some business battlefield, there's nothing more dangerous than an animal with nothing to lose in a corner. So placing us in that sort of position then trying to wait us out would lead to inevitable conflict. We might lose in a stand up fight with him but we'd at least bloody his nose which in a situation like we're in right now could easily spell the end for him and his group." Weiss looked away.

"I suppose you're right then Jaune, you are the group leader." Jaune sighed.

"Weiss, I don't mean to belittle your idea or anything I'm just saying what's on my mind." She shrugged.

"It's alright Jaune, there are plenty of things that I'm not good at. I can't shoot a gun, nor can I drive a motorcycle, I can't protect the group like Yang, Pyrrha or even you. I know my limits." She said before looking at him with a small smile.

"But thanks for including me." She looked away and walked back towards the trees where the others were gathering. Jaune just took a deep breath before slowly releasing it then made his way over to join them.

As he walked up to them, he could see that the group's spirits were higher than before. Even Helena was smiling and laughing again which Jaune was glad to see but he couldn't shake the guilt of putting her in that state before.

If any of them heard or even saw how guilty he felt about the deaths of Coco, Velvet and his sisters they would be worried for him. So he needed to keep it bottled up for the time being.

"Jaune! Weiss just told us that you got the goodies." Sun said as Jaune stood next to Weiss.

"Yea but if it wasn't for Weiss being there I get the feeling Roman would have ran circles around me." This drew some laughter as Jaune sat down next to Pyrrha, Nora and Ren.

"So you told Roman about Cinder's group?" Ren asked.

"Yea, I warned him about how they were really aggressive and well-armed. It was the reason why he agreed to give us the items we asked for." Jaune said as he fiddled with his vest.

"He also told us some locations that the Army is holding out at." Weiss reminded him and Jaune nodded.

"Yea Mountain Glenn, Avalon, and Nysa are still holding out." Pyrrha and Mina looked at him knowingly at this so did Helena who was laying down on one of the picnic tables curiosity on her face.

"So where are we going?" Jaune gulped as everyone turned to look at him.

"Ah, well, see I was gonna bring this up earlier but I sort of forgot with Roman's group showing up." Jaune said trying to buy himself time.

"That's understandable, so where are we going dude?" Neptune asked and Jaune could feel his face heat up and his palms growing sweaty.

"I, uh, well I was steering us to Mountain Glenn." He said before bracing himself expecting to hear them blow up in outrage at the idea.

"Not my first choice but I suppose it's better than hanging out here." Blake spoke up first and he looked at everyone to see them thoughtful more than anything else.

"You guys are cool with that?" Jaune asked and Qrow snorted.

"Why wouldn't we be? You just told us that Roman gave you information that Mountain Glenn is good to go."

"What did you think we'll be pissed you chose one of three options to go? Avalon is the same distance away from us as Mountain Glenn and I don't even know where Nysa is." Sun remarked as he leaned back on the picnic table.

"Honestly, I don't know where Nysa is either." Jaune replied laughing with relief.

"It's a coastal city to the south of Vale with a population of three hundred and forty thousand, it's well known for its fishing and shipping industry." Weiss started.

"Noooooooo! Stop heeerrr!" Ruby shouted with her hands over her ears which brought Weiss to an abrupt halt as everyone else started laughing again. The white hair girl put her hands on her hips, the look of outrage evident on her face.

"Learning something new isn't a bad thing." She said sternly to the younger girl.

"Ah come on _Weiss_ cream, don't be such a stick in the mud. Not all of us wanna hear boring trivial facts about some place we've never been." Yang said with an easy grin as she clasped her hands behind her head.

"It's not boring; its important information on what the city is like." Weiss replied. Jaune chuckled as he stood up, Pyrrha looked at him.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm gonna go give Roman a copy of the map I made of the area." She stood up.

"I'll come with you." Jaune smiled and the two left the others sitting there talking amongst themselves as they went back towards the cars. Yang watched as Pyrrha stood closer than normal to the blonde teen, something was different about the two of them. There was a small pang in her chest as she realized that things had moved without her realizing it.

"Yang, are you okay?" Ruby asked softly and she looked down at her younger half-sister.

"I'm fine Ruby, I was just thinking." Ruby nodded before she tilted her head a little, her silver eyes filled with curiosity.

"Do you think dad is alright?" Yang didn't really want to go into that topic, especially after what happened to Jaune's parents.

"I'm sure he's fine, he's a pretty good shot as well." Ruby shook her head as she looked down at her feet.

"That's not what I mean, I'm sure Jaune's dad was a pretty good at using a gun as well." Yang wrapped her right arm around Ruby and pulled her close.

"I'm sure he's fine Ruby, there's nothing to worry about. Trust me." Ruby buried her face into the side of Yang.

"I trust you."

* * *

 **Later…**

Jaune stood in front of the others facing Roman as he directed members of his group to set down their agreed upon items on a picnic table.

Jaune felt giddy to see the munition boxes, a variety of toiletries, four medical kits, two hatchets, two tents, blankets. There was also water purifying tablets, a magnesium fire starter, a compass, and a firearm cleaning kit.

Though almost as important as the other items were the accessories he wanted for their weapons. Roman had supplied four EOTech holographic sights for the two Stag Model 3 rifles and the F2000s. Jaune also mounted a bipod onto Pyrrha's Model 10 rifle and gave Qrow a foregrip to use on his Model 3.

Ruby was sad that she didn't find anyone that could give her a new barrel but overall everyone was happy with the deal. Roman got some valuable information and they got much needed supplies. Even with the two boxes of food gone they had enough to last them a few weeks at least.

"Well kid, I'd say this was a good trade." Roman said, he was still smoking the same cigar but it was almost done.

"Tell me about it, when we saw you we got scared of what you might do with that M2." Jaune said pointing at the Humvee, Roman grinned.

"I mean I can still use it if I wanted too." Jaune felt the smile fall off his face but Roman started laughing instead.

"Holy shit kid, you ought to see your face!" Jaune felt heat touch his face now.

"I don't see how that's funny." He said as Roman's laughter died away.

"Oh come on kid, you're too young to have a stick up your ass." Jaune rolled his eyes as Qrow, Sun Neptune and Yang picked up the stuff to take back to the cars.

"So where do you plan on heading out too?" Roman asked and for some reason Jaune felt hesitant to tell him. He could see Roman staring at him with curiosity, but there was something in his eyes that didn't set well with him.

"Nysa." Jaune finally said as he realized he hadn't responded and Roman was waiting.

"Why there?"

"My grandparents are there and since you told me that Nysa was still viable I figured that's as good a place as any." Roman rubbed his chin.

"Sounds like a good idea kid." Jaune crossed his arms.

"I have a name." Roman shrugged.

"I know but my way is more fun." Jaune sighed as Roman turned away laughing. Jaune sighed as he turned around as well; standing in front of him was Pyrrha who had a slight frown on her face.

"What's up Pyrrha?" He asked as she stepped to his side to walk with him towards their cars.

"Why'd you lie to him about where we were going?" She asked.

"Ah, that. I don't know exactly why I did, it just kind of felt like the right thing to do." She hummed in a manner that Jaune assumed that she didn't approve of what he did.

"You do realize if he ever runs into us again and we're not on our way to Nysa he'll know that you lied to him."

"I know it was fucked up on my part Pyrrha, but what's done is done. I'll just have to deal with it if it ever comes up again." Jaune said looking down to watch his feet move forward. Pyrrha touched his arm and he stopped to look at her.

"Jaune I didn't mean to sound mean." She started to say but Jaune held up a hand stopping her, a small smile forming on his face.

"No, no, I think I understand what you were trying to say." A smile blossomed on her face.

"I'm glad; I would hate to think that I was pressuring you in such a manner." Jaune laughed as the two of them resumed walking.

"You don't have to worry about that Pyrrha. Whatever you say is generally very helpful both in keep my mood up and to think straight." Had he been looking at her at that moment he would have seen Pyrrha's face turn a little red.

"Come on lovebirds! Hurry up!" Qrow shouted at them and the two of them picked up their pace to join the others.

"Come on Qrow, don't tease the poor girl." Mina said.

"What about Jaune?" Sun asked from behind the truck.

"Oh him? Tease him all you want, it's really fun." She said with a grin, though she tapped her lip in thought.

"Damn that just makes me wish we had his baby album though, there are so many good memories in there." Jaune shook his head vigorously.

"Good memories my butt, I'm pretty sure I still have deep rooted trauma from those days." Helena snickered at that

"I still remember when I was a young girl watching Mina and Katherine dress you up as a fairy for Halloween." Nora started laughing loudly from the other side of the cars; Jaune covered his face with one hand as heat rose to it.

"So how long till we reach Mountain Glenn?" Ruby asked as she moved to climb into the truck.

"A couple of hours at the very least but I suggest once we reach the mountains that we find a place to camp out the night." Qrow said and looked towards Jaune who nodded.

"Sounds like a good idea, though I also wouldn't mind if we do another hunt for supplies right before we head up there."

"What for?" Karen asked to his left.

"I just think it's a good idea to continue looking for supplies. While we have a decent amount of food there are still plenty of other things we can stock up on. We could use some camping stoves, fuel, medical kits, and tools, just to name a few things off the top of my head."

"Clothes." Blake added which brought a few murmurs out of the assembled group. While they didn't smell too bad, Jaune could tell that he had some stale sweat in his clothes quite easily. Jaune looked up at the sky; the sun was well past its zenith.

"What time is it?" Jaune asked.

"Quarter past three." Helena called out from the truck, he nodded.

"Alright I think we should get going now." Everyone dispersed to head towards their vehicles. Jaune looked back towards the parking lot. Roman's group was mostly lounging about or setting piles broken wood from the picnic tables and branches across each other forming rough pyramids.

"Excuse me." Jaune looked to his left to see a soldier standing before him. He was pretty nondescript, the only partially interesting feature he had was his glasses, he held up an envelope.

"Roman said that if you ever run into a girl with pink, brown and white hair you'll need to give this to her." Jaune frowned.

"What for?" The man grinned.

"So she doesn't kill you."

* * *

 **A Few Hours Later…**

Jaune and Yang sat in the Mustang leading the group down the highway towards the mountains. They were much closer now and Jaune could spot vague details of homes or other structures at the base of the mountains.

The sky overhead had once more turned dark grey and Jaune got the feeling that rain was on the way. Glancing over at Yang he could see that she was focusing on the road ahead of them.

It had been awfully quiet between the two of them over the last few hours. Even when they made another stop at a gas station to top off their tanks and take whatever food or snacks that was left over in it she didn't really speak to him.

Pyrrha had also avoided him too, which he began to realize that it had to do with the precarious situation the three of them were now in. Yang liked him but Jaune didn't feel the same way plus he and Pyrrha had mutual feelings for each other it seemed.

However he had told Pyrrha about what had happened between him and Yang, so was she expecting him to handle it now? He sighed as he looked out the passenger side window, the trees were starting grow thicker and were much more frequent.

"You tired?" Yang asked, finally breaking the silence.

"Nah, I'm just thinking." Jaune replied.

"Lien for your thoughts?" Yang asked and Jaune could hear the smile in her voice.

"That depends on how much you have on you."

"I don't know, why don't you _lien_ over and put your hand in my _pocket._ " Jaune snapped his head around to look at Yang; disbelief must have been evident on his face since she started to laugh.

"Oh man, I wish I took a picture of your face right there. You looked like you were gonna have a heart attack." Jaune just shook his head wordlessly as he turned to look outside again.

"Aw come on Jaune, I'm just messing with you." Yang said after a few moments when she realized he wasn't going to respond. She reached out with her right arm and poked his shoulder.

"Come on Fearless Leader, turn that frown upside down." Jaune sighed.

"Yang what do you want me to say?"

"I don't know I just wanted to lighten the mood."

"Well I'm sorry if I'm not exactly cheerful right now I've just got a lot on my mind." Jaune said with more heat than he intended. Yang didn't say anything as they sat there again in silence; Jaune cursed himself internally at make things worse. After passing a road sign showing that they were less than eighty miles out Yang spoke again.

"Jaune are you upset about what happened between us earlier?" She asked, her voice unnaturally quiet than what he was used to hearing.

"I guess I should have known better." She said again as he failed to respond, his mouth opening and closing yet no words came out.

"I'm sorry." This time her voice trailed away and Jaune looked at her but Yang had shifted her hair to cover the right side of her face. Both of her hands gripped the steering wheel but Jaune could see the tension in them as she gripped it.

"Yang, you have nothing to apologize for." Jaune said but Yang gave a strange mix of a laugh and sob.

"Nothing to apologize for? Please. I should have known you wouldn't have any interest in me but I couldn't help it. Then I put you in a precarious position with not only me but Pyrrha as well since I was too fucking stupid and rushed thing. God fucking damn it, why am I such a fuck up!?" Yang started to speak hysterically, her voice progressively getting louder and louder till she was yelling. Jaune however felt that she was yelling at herself more so than him.

"I'm always messing things up." Yang rasped out as her voice quieted down again, Jaune could hear the emotion choking her. He couldn't see her face but he could see the slight trembled in her hands as she struggled to control herself.

Jaune wasn't sure what to do or say at the moment as he watched Yang's trembling form. It was the first he'd seen any sign of real vulnerability in the girl. Even when she was taken hostage in the gas station she looked far more composed than she was now.

"I guess mom was right, I do ruin things." Jaune froze as he heard her say that. While she was quieter than before being in the car meant that he could hear almost anything she said. Though with this particular line he wasn't sure where to tread, it was an emotional minefield.

Even then he felt the need to say something even if it was to draw her attention back to the present and not to whatever demons that reside in her mind of the past. He reached out and put his hand on Yang's right shoulder, giving it a soft squeeze.

"Yang, that's not true." He started but Yang snorted unladylike.

"How's it not true? You know I have feelings for you now that's not something a person can just forget."

"I know but it's still not your fault. None of this is your fault; you can't go blaming yourself for this."

"But…" Yang started but Jaune cut her off.

"That's enough, this is getting ridiculous. There wasn't a single thing that you did wrong Yang, flirting with me, confessing and even kissing me is not wrong. Had these things happened months even weeks ago maybe things might have been different but in my heart I know that I can't do that now, it would be the same as lying to you. And I make it a policy to try and not lie to my friends." Yang sniffed.

"I get what you're trying to do Jaune but this isn't easy for me as well. I'm not one to open my heart like this to anyone."

"I understand Yang, this wasn't easy for me a single bit and if that was the case for me. Well I imagine what you're feeling is ten times stronger than what I felt." Yang laughed a little.

"Felt? So you're already over it huh?"

"No! Jesus Yang I'm not a monster but neither am I perfect. This is the first time I've had a girl approach me with this matter, I don't know how to act or speak. You know about how fucking stupid I was with Weiss, had I known what to do then it wouldn't have gotten so bad between us. Look I'm not saying that you should get over it, I know that I won't get over it as well so easily but I am asking that despite all of this that can we still be friends." He was surprised to hear Yang sniff before finally looking at him. While her hair still obscured most of her face, he could see her left eye was puffy.

"Really?" Jaune gave her a soft smile and nodded.

"Really."

* * *

 **Elsewhere…**

Daniel Ortega fumbled as for his handgun magazine. Gunfire was still cracking in the distance followed by the heart stopping shattering of masonry as the rounds hit the building he was in.

People were screaming and yelling all around him as they fought the attackers. None of them expected to fight like this, it was bad enough that the dead had risen but now people were turning on each other.

He had seen the effects that mindset had wrought on his town of Oakdale, a population of only seven thousand that was reduced to barely a few hundred. While most people fled the moment the dead reached their small town the rest stayed to fight them off. They had been able to block them in on the south eastern side from which they came from.

The moment that happened, neighbor turned on neighbor in a heartbeat. After two days of fighting, the remaining townsfolk had been split into two groups and everything seemed to relatively go back to peace aside from the occasional group of zombies wondering into town from the south.

Last night however, someone had firebombed the Mayor's office where most of the people in his group had been sleeping and storing their supplies. He had been sitting outside with his friend Thomas Joryen when it happened. They didn't see who threw it but when everyone started rushing to get inside and save the people trapped inside, which was when gunfire erupted from behind them.

He didn't know how many there were nor how strong but when Thomas fell to the ground gurgling as he tried to stop the bleeding coming from his neck. He kneeled down trying to help him by clamping down on the wound with his hands and screaming for someone to help him but Daniel knew it was too late for his friend.

Almost like a switch being flipped he watched as his friend stopped struggling, his hands still clamped over his throat with blood coating his hands. Daniel almost didn't notice the firefight that was raging around him.

It wasn't until Chief Watkins had run up to him and cuffed the back of his head that he was drawn back to reality.

So he had participated in the fighting that lasted mostly up to evening, by now most of the defenders were dead. Whoever that was attacking them was far better than them, he had yet to even see any of them opting to firing at where he believed them to be.

"We gotta get out of here!" Someone yelled and Daniel looked to his left down the hall to see two men trying calm down a third man but he was having none of it. Daniel watched as he ran towards him and dread filled his heart as the man ran past an open window.

There was a loud crack and the wall to his right was splattered with blood as the man fell forward. Daniel crawled towards the man but stopped halfway as he could see the side of the man's face had been ripped up by the bullet.

Leaning back up against the wall Daniel took a deep breath in order to calm his nerves but it wasn't helping.

"Listen up!" A loud voice called out from the outside.

"We've got you surrounded; no one else needs to die if you surrender!"

"Fuck off!" One of the men in the hallway with him screamed as he stood up with his hunting rifle in hand, but the moment he did there was a ripple of gunfire that ripped into him. The man fell to the floor like a bag of rocks, blood oozing out from under him.

"Don't do anything stupid! If you attack us we will answer with lethal force!"

"How the hell do we know that you won't kill us!?" A woman called out.

"You don't but if you continue to fight us then you'll die no matter what!" The voice replied. Everyone in the hallway looked around at each other, Daniel could see that many of them were going to give up, he clenched his left hand. If they gave up he won't be able to fight them alone, he'd have to give up for now as well.

"Alright! We surrender!" The woman from before shouted, Daniel watched as the others stood up. He didn't really know any of them. Watkins was the only person he recognized but he had died a few hours earlier when he led a counter attack with the remaining members of the police department.

They barely made it across the street when they were cut down by gunfire. With his death it marked the point in the unknown attackers effectively broke their back.

"Clear your weapons and leave them up there! If you come out here with a gun then you will be shot!" The voice called out and Daniel cleared his weapon before setting it on the floor. He was tempted to tuck it into his waistband but he'd rather not get shot before he had the chance to get revenge.

So everyone piled downstairs and out the front door of the building they had holed themselves up in. Daniel was startled at the sight when he exited the building.

Their attackers looked to be all wearing black hard shell riot armor with what looked to be a combat harness over it along with white and red motorcycle helmets. All of them were also well armed; Daniel felt a cold sweat break over him.

"What the fuck? Who are they?" Someone asked from behind.

"They look like soldiers." Another person remarked.

"No way, could they be deserters?"

"Probably."

"Fucking traitors." Everyone around him started to talk either speculating or throwing insults at their captors.

"That's enough!" A sharp voice called out and everyone quieted down. Daniel looked up to see a woman dressed similar to the others standing on top of a car. Something about the way she stood made him think that she was in charge, that or the fact when she jumped down the people near her bowed their heads to her.

"Line them up." She snapped and the people around them started to push them into a line, there was only about twenty of them. Daniel found it sad to see since there had been more than a hundred and thirty people before they had been attacked.

The woman walked over to the far left side and studied the man before her. She didn't say anything as she moved on to the next person; however it wasn't until she reached the fourth person before her expression soured.

"You're a coward, aren't you?" She asked loudly, the man started to prattle as she pulled out a pistol and shot him in the head.

"I hate cowards." She said aloud before moving to the next person, an older woman and shot her as well.

"I hate weak people." Everyone flinched as she inspected them, her weapon still in hand. She ended up shooting four more people before she stopped in front of him.

"You're not weak; I can see the fire in your eyes. That's good." She leaned closer, her hair shifting in the wind. The smell of smoke found its way into Daniel's nose, her eyes focused on his and he felt his eye twitch a little.

"You want revenge, don't you?" He didn't say anything as she smiled. Daniel could help but note that while she was a beautiful woman, her smile felt more akin to a predator that sighted its prey.

"However with that revenge you'll be nothing more than a burden." The last thing that Daniel Ortega ever saw was the cruelty of her red eyes before she killed him.

* * *

 **Why aren't there some interesting things that happened here.**

 **Surprisingly enough I felt Roman would be much better if he wasn't an actual criminal in this story.**

 **And there looks to be some drama brewing, wonder where that'll go.**

 **Anyways I'm sure one of you is probably curious about the new image I've gotten. It was actually a piece that I paid someone to make for the Lost Sons but since I put that to rest since I'm rewriting it I didn't know when to put it up. However I felt the need to put it up since the guy put so much work into it for me so be sure to check out my profile for his Deviantart information.**

 **On that note I've gotten a step closer in getting the 1st Chapter for the new Lost Sons story completed.**

 **Anyways feel free to leave a comment, review or PM about the story or if you just wanna say something to me.**

 **Till next time!**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Jaune watched the surrounding darkness as Qrow and Karen used large branches to wipe away the tire tracks of their vehicles. It was starting to get dark out but they figured it would be better to do this anyways in case someone wonders down the road.

"Looks like it's gonna rain." Neptune said behind Jaune as he walked up next to him.

"Fuck I hope not, I hate sleeping in cars and I'm not sure the tents are big enough for everyone." Neptune grunted and Jaune got the impression that something was on blue hair teen's mind. He didn't pursue that feeling as with everything that's going on with him, Yang and Pyrrha he really didn't want to get into another heavy emotional minefield.

"So we're close to Mountain Glenn?" Neptune asked after a few moments and Jaune nodded.

"We should be less than twenty minutes by car from it, though I suppose since we're in the mountains we wouldn't be able to see the lights or anything."

"What makes you think that Mountain Glenn is still a safe place to go to?" Jaune looked up at the night sky but wasn't able to see any stars out at the moment.

"Well I suppose it's in part due to what we've seen so far in getting here and the information that Roman gave us."

"Fair enough but can you really trust Roman?" Jaune chuckled softly.

"I wouldn't trust that man as far as I can throw him but people like him are predictable."

"Predictable?"

"Yea, people like Roman are pretty business orientated, the bottom line is what they will always be trying to pursue. If helping us means they can get something out of it then they'll help us but if selling us out or helping another group beat us means them getting a profit of some kind then they'll do it without a second glance."

"So we should expect to fight them someday?"

"Well maybe not fight them but definitely don't count on them to help us out of the goodness of their heart."

"Okay." Neptune said as Qrow and Karen walked up to them with Karen holding a flashlight that was muffled by a small piece of cloth that was wrapped around it dimming the illumination.

"We're good to go." Karen said and the four of them walked deeper into the forest. A light mist started to fall as they reached the campsite.

There Weiss, Ruby, Blake, Sun, Helena and Pyrrha were working on setting up tents. Ren and Nora were seated around a puny campfire that Ren looked to be struggling to grow. Yang and Mina were stationed on opposite sides of the camp watching the forest for signs of movement.

"Why is this infernal thing so hard?" Weiss complained aloud as her and Ruby's attempt at constructing a tent failed again.

"Here Weiss, let me help." Neptune called out as he walked over to her. Qrow and Karen headed over to help Blake and Sun who also were struggling to construct their own tent.

Jaune looked over at Pyrrha who was surprisingly doing a pretty good job; her and Helena had taken a rope and tied it between two trees. Hanging in the middle was one of their tarps that Sun and Qrow had found when they had raided the gas stations on their way up the mountains.

They had also put down a second tarp under that which was held down with stakes at the four corners. Lastly was a spare blanket that was set running down the length of the rope to provide a semblance of a door.

"Well, it seems all those camping trips have helped you." Jaune remarked as he approached Helena and Pyrrha.

"Well dad always had us make our own tents so I have an idea of how to make something. I didn't know how to cover either end, so Pyrrha just recommended that we use a blanket to try covering it." Helena said as she covered the ends of where the tarps meet with dirt to further weigh it down on the ground.

"You may wanna find a way to tie it down; if it gets windy it'll blow the blanket off but other than that it looks like a good job to me." Jaune said looking over at Pyrrha who smiled in return.

"Thank you Jaune, I never really got a chance to go camping so I'm not really sure what the best method is." Jaune waved a hand dismissively.

"You're fine Pyrrha; you're really smart so I'm sure you can learn easily." She smiled again as she looked away slightly, Helena groaned.

"Oh. My. God. Can you two lovebirds go somewhere else, I might puke." Pyrrha watched as Jaune sputtered in attempt to reply before Helena looked towards her.

"You're not allowed to share a tent with him." She could feel the heat emitting from her face at her words and opened her mouth to reply.

Instead she started thinking about what that would be like, to be wrapped in his strong arms, the heat of their bodies as they're pressed against each other in the coldness of night. There was a snapping sound and Pyrrha shook her head as she realized that Helena was snapping her fingers in front of Pyrrha's face.

"Jesus, I didn't think you'd take what I said to heart Pyrrha." The younger girl turned back towards the tent.

"Now come on let's finish this up." Pyrrha nodded to herself before looking at Jaune and flashing him a quick smile before returning to work. Jaune sighed as he turned away from them and headed over to Ren and Nora, he was so glad that they couldn't have seen his face clearly in the dark.

"Sup guys." Jaune called out as he crouched next to Nora as she watched Ren stare intently into the slow but surely growing fire.

"Hey Jaune." Nora replied and he frowned at hearing a despairing tone in her voice. A bored Nora is a dangerous Nora.

"What's up Nora?" Jaune asked, scared of what she might say or do.

"Nothing, I'm just watching Ren trying to get this fire going so we can heat some water up for the food." Jaune looked over at Ren then looked up; the misty rain was still coming down.

While it hadn't soaked anyone yet, it was going to become a problem very soon. In Ren's case it was already a problem as it was keeping the fire from growing.

"Uh, I think it would be a good idea if you find something to put over the fire. The rain is gonna keep it from getting any bigger." Ren seemed to stop moving when Jaune said that.

"It's raining?" Ren asked as he looked over his shoulder at Jaune.

"Uh, yea? How did you not notice that?" Jaune asked as Ren shifted his gaze to Nora; the girl immediately stood up and walked away as she whistled nonchalantly. Jaune noticed that there was an empty water bottle next to where she had been.

"What?" Ren shook his head.

"Don't worry about it." He gestured towards Pyrrha and Helena.

"Wanna help me find a tarp for this campfire?" Jaune smiled and nodded.

* * *

 **Later…**

Jaune and most of the group sat around under a large tarp that was being held up by four sticks that they had dug into the ground. Using what rope that Pyrrha and Helena hadn't used to tie it all together, now they sat on a slightly damp ground munching away at heated up freeze dried food.

"So we'll be heading into Mountain Glenn in the morning." Jaune said as he set aside the empty packet he had been eating from. Ruby, Sun, Blake, Yang, Karen, Pyrrha, Neptune, Nora, and Helena looked towards him.

None of them said anything; Jaune could feel the hesitation that was growing in the air though. He didn't blame them; it was terrifying to think what they might encounter in the morning.

"Jaune, do we have to go?" Ruby was the first to ask and he sighed.

"Yes, even if it's just to see that the city has fallen as well. We need to know." Weiss looked over at him now.

"What happens if it is gone?" Jaune looked up at her; in the corner of his eye Neptune was eyeing her as well.

"Then we come up with a new plan."

"Like?" Jaune scratched his cheek as he quickly thought.

"Then we continue south."

"Why south?"

"Well it's warmer for one; if these are really corpses then we'll have to stick to a warm environment as the heat will affect them over time."

"How long?"

"I don't know, I think the average decomposition rate would take years but I'm pretty sure we don't have that time. In a hot or humid climate it can shorten the time down but I don't know exactly." Blake looked at him now.

"How do you even know that kind of stuff?" Jaune shrugged.

"The internet." Sun laughed at that.

"Dude you must have had a weird search history." Everyone laughed a little at that.

"What kind of porn was on it is what I'm thinking." Yang said and Weiss tossed her plastic fork at her.

"That's disgusting Yang."

"Hey! I'm just curious."

"Well you don't have to say it out loud I'm trying to eat here."

"Oh come on Ice Queen this stuff isn't exactly a gourmet meal." Sun chipped in but the white hair girl crossed her arms nonetheless.

"That doesn't mean I need more encouragement to be sick."

"It's not like Jaune confirmed he's got any weird fetishes."

"Wait a minute, why do you think I have weird fetishes?"

"You're a guy."

"I take offense to that." Neptune called out but Yang snorted.

"I think we all know what you like." Weiss narrowed her eyes at Yang.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's nothing Weiss, don't worry about it." Neptune said turning to look at her but Weiss didn't look wholly satisfied with that. Yang and Nora were making whipping sounds off to the side.

"I hate you." Weiss said as she rubbed her temples.

* * *

 **A few Hours Later…**

Jaune walked up to Ren who was spreading blankets onto the top of the food boxes in the back of their truck. The rain was still nothing more than a misty spray but it had yet to stop or worsen, much to the chagrin of Yang who had fussed over her hair.

Though why she was fussing over it now confused Jaune, but he supposed he would just have to live with it.

"Hey Jaune." Ren said as he turned to look at him and Jaune nodded.

"Are you on first watch?" Ren asked.

"Nah Sun and Qrow are taking first watch, then it's me and Pyrrha second then Neptune and Mina."

"Nice, but wasn't Karen supposed to be on watch with you tonight?" Ren asked looking towards him and Jaune shrugged.

"Yea Karen came and told me that she switched with Pyrrha so now it's us two for the night."

"That's cool, the two of you can have some alone time I suppose." Jaune felt his eye twitch a little.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Come on Jaune, I've known you for most of my life." Jaune sighed.

"God damn it."

"Oh don't be like that Jaune I think it's a good thing for you and her I suppose but let's be honest it's a much better deal for you." Jaune elbowed him slightly.

"Dick."

"You know I'm right."

"Maybe but you didn't need to say it out loud." The two teens grinned at each other before both of them started to chuckle going into full blown laughter. Qrow and Sun glanced over at them before going back to check their firearms for their watch. After a few moments the two teens quieted down and Ren turned a little more serious.

"So what do you expect in the morning?"

"What do you mean?"

"I want your honest thoughts about what you think we're gonna see tomorrow." Jaune shook his head.

"I honestly don't know Ren, I'm working on the information Roman gave me and pretty much speculation on my part."

"Speculation?" Jaune nodded.

"Palmwood wasn't half as trashed as Vale which I suspect is in part due to people in general fleeing but at the same time we could see that the Government was also mobilizing or even fully mobilized by the time we were leaving Vale."

"But Vale looked to be overrun by that time." Ren pointed out.

"True Vale was already a lost cause, which is why I was surprised that Beacon was still running due to its close proximity to it."

"Well it's also on elevated above Vale so I suppose they were able to close down the roads enough to prevent a mass migration from reaching them."

"Maybe plus if Roman's information is good then there's supposed to be a strong military presence there so that must be helping keep them afloat."

"Do you think places like Palmwood evacuated to Mountain Glenn and other major cities for safety?" Jaune shrugged.

"Probably, people want to go to figures of strength and power. Though I think that over time if things are continuing to break down around the nation then the cities will start to suffer big time and we'll see an influx of people going into the surrounding areas and beyond."

"Do you think it would be better to stay out of big cities for now and hit up what areas we can to gather supplies then bunker down?"

"I suppose but I think it would be better to go to a major city like Mountain Glenn and see what's going on for now. If the Government is just using these areas as a staging places to gather their breath before going back in then we might see the end of this within a year." Ren shook his head.

"I'm not sure about that Jaune; people can be awfully selfish in their desire to avoid danger. Even with our short time in Vale when things broke down I felt utterly terrified. Even when we were in your house waiting I can say for certain that I was scared almost the entire time."

"Almost?" Jaune asked and Ren shrugged.

"Don't worry about it."

"On that note, Nora suggests that we should also try including more weapons than just guns." Ren looked towards him; Jaune tilted his head a little.

"What do you mean?"

"She was telling me that it's good to have guns it would be a lot better if we start using melee weapons." Jaune tilted his head a little.

"Huh, why?" Ren shrugged.

"Well I think it's because she's just looking for an excuse to run around with a sledgehammer or chainsaw but she does bring up a good point. Melee weapons are useful in conversing ammunition and don't draw the attention as guns would with noise."

"That's true but guns will stay be primary weapons since if we encounter an aggravated group, even a small one, we need to put them down at a distance. That being said I think it's an overall good idea that we should be on the lookout for." Jaune said as Nora walked up to them.

"Hey Nora." Jaune greeted the shorter girl as she joined them.

"Sup Fearless Leader." Jaune sighed a little at that as Ren chuckled.

"So what are you boys talking about?" Ren shrugged.

"I was just telling Jaune about your idea about implementing melee weapons in our arsenal." Nora gripped Jaune's arms and squeezed tightly.

"You should listen to him Jaune; Ren's smart and agrees with me so that means it's a good plan." Jaune pulled away from Nora's grasps and rubbed his arms.

"Jesus Nora I already agreed with him on it." Nora cackled as she rubbed her hands together.

"Man, Nora, you could crush a rock with that grip." The bubbly orange hair girl shrugged.

"Nah you're just a big softy Jaune, Ren can handle it."

"What?"

"Nothing!" Ren interrupted as he covered Nora's mouth with one hand.

"Come Nora, we should go to bed now." Ren said as he led the shorter girl away, leaving Jaune to stand alone in the misty rain.

"Well that was something." A voice spoke up from behind him and Jaune turned to see Pyrrha standing with her arms crossed behind her back.

"Oh hey Pyrrha, how long you've been standing there?" The red hair girl smiled as she stepped closer towards him.

"Not long all I heard was Ren saying something about melee weapons." Jaune nodded.

"Yea he was just forwarding Nora's idea about us using melee weapons, in part to converse ammunition, staying silent and her desire to smash something I suppose." Pyrrha giggled a little.

"Once I would find that idea ridiculous that someone would suggest that but after getting to know Nora I can see her coming up with that idea." Jaune felt a smile grow on his face.

"Yea, she's a little peculiar but it's nice to have her around. She's got this like, aura, or something that just is electrifying. I'm not sure how to explain it." Pyrrha nodded emphatically.

"I know! It's like when there's a static charge in the air that makes your hair stand up on end." Jaune saw looked up to see that most of the group was heading to their respective areas to rest.

"Alright I guess we should get some shut eye before our shift." Jaune said before looking back at Pyrrha, who had been staring at him. The red hair eye quickly shifted her gaze towards the center of the camp then looked down at her shoes.

"So, where are you sleeping tonight?" Pyrrha asked and Jaune blinked as he registered the question. He just realized that he hadn't actually set up a place for him to sleep for the night.

"Uh, I figured I'd just sit by the fire. It'll keep me warm for the night and the tarp will keep the rain off me plus someone needs to keep it alive."

"Oh." Pyrrha said almost sullenly to Jaune's ears.

"Did you have something else in mind?" Pyrrha shook her head, had there been some more light for them to see, Jaune would have noticed how red her face had gotten at their current conversation.

"Well! I'll see you later!" Pyrrha said her voice pitched slightly higher than normal, leaving Jaune standing alone once again in the misty rain.

"Great."

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

Roman sat in the passenger seat of one of his SUVs, with his assistant Perry in the driver seat following thirty feet back from their Humvee. Most of the convoy's headlights were either dimmed or turned completely off leaving them almost completely in the dark on the lone highway.

Most of the drivers of his group however were equipped with night vision goggles that they had pilfered early in the fall of Vale. With those goggles they had little issue in seeing their nearby vicinity.

Though the Humvee was forced to keep its lights on as it was the lead, but considering what firepower they had it wouldn't be a big problem for dealing with the ruffians they've met so far.

"Sir?" Perry's voice cut into his thoughts and Roman looked over at the man, his only noticeable feature being the fact he wore glasses.

"Yes Perry?"

"I was wondering something, sir." Roman sighed.

"What is it Perry?"

"Why did you lie to that kid?"

"You mean the blonde kid?"

"Yes, him."

"Well it's simple; he lied to me so I lied to him. It seemed rather fair if you ask me, which you did."

"True but how did you know he was lying?"

"Well because it was the road we were on. Had they really wanted to go to Nysa then they wouldn't have been there at all nor could they be going to Avalon on that road unless they wanted to add another day's worth of driving, plus the fact he picked Nysa also gave away that something wasn't right."

"Wasn't Nysa bombed by the Air Force?" Roman snapped his fingers.

"Exactly! Had he been coming from Mountain Glenn then he wouldn't have asked about if it was safe and I've already stated why it was impossible for them to be going to Avalon. So that's why I also told him Nysa was safe which to be fair it was at first but the influx of people panicking from the smaller towns, cities and Vale prevented the local Army units from putting up proper screening and quarantine procedures so they missed a lot of people that they shouldn't have. Once the number of infected grew within the city it was only a matter of time for them all to be either torn piles of meat or new additions to the ranks of the undead."

"What about that group he mentioned?"

"Oh, I believe him about that."

"Really?" Roman chuckled.

"Come on Perry, had we been a more violent group we would have matched that description as well. Though I prefer to keep things civil, makes things less messy."

"Do you think he was talking about Neo?" Roman snorted again as he pulled out a half used cigar and put it between his teeth before lighting it up.

"No way, had they met Neo and her men then get into a firefight I suspect there would be a lot less of them with the remainder having a lasting memory of that encounter."

"She does scare a lot of people." Roman chuckled as he exhaled a cloud of smoke.

"Perry, she scares me and I'm her boss and dare I say friend."

"That reminds me sir, we've been wondering."

"Oh?"

"Well, how did you two meet?" Roman chuckled again as he put the cigar back into his mouth.

"That's a story for another time." Almost on cue, the Combat-net radio fixated between their seats came to life.

"Sir, we've got a problem." A voice said over it and Roman grabbed the handset.

"What is it Ramsey?"

"Jenkins is seeing gunfire at our two." Roman cursed as he looked out the passenger side window. Outside everything was mostly dark except the low glow of headlights but the longer he looked the more he could faintly see the faint arcs of stray rounds going into the air.

"All vehicles come to a complete stop and kill the lights. Zeddrick, Francis, and O'dare take your teams and set up a perimeter twenty meter spread covering out our twelve to four." Roman reached behind his seat and pulled forward a M4A1; opening the glove box in front of him he picked up a full magazine then slammed it into the magazine well.

By that time the convoy was ground to a halt, Perry had manually switched off the lights and so had everyone else.

"How close are we to them?" Roman asked as he picked up the handset again.

"Difficult to tell sir, it's probably a mile or two out from where we are right now." Ramsey's voice replied.

"Alright, Gillard get your team ready to move. Everyone else is to stay put until I say so." Roman said as he put the handset down and quickly got out of the SUV. He could feel the misty rain already having an effect on his outfit much to his annoyance.

Around him the soldiers that had followed his lead from Vale were silently getting into position. Perry appeared from his right holding a rifle of his own but Roman held up his left hand.

"Not you Perry, you stay here and make sure none of the civvies get antsy. I don't want one of them getting ballsy and try leaving with some of my supplies."

"Yes sir." Perry said and stepped past him to check on the other vehicles of the convoy. A tall man leading four others dressed in full combat uniform, all of them were holding customized M16A3 rifles. Two of them though had M203 launchers attached to their weapons.

"We're ready to move on your command sir." The lead man said as he stopped in front of him.

"Alright Gillard, I'll be accompanying you as well."

"Why?"

"I want to see what it is we're dealing with, are they bandits, fighting zombies and what are the chances we can talk our way out in case they come looking for us." Gillard nodded.

"Alright, do you wanna lead?" Roman shook his head.

"No that's fine; you do what you have to do. Just don't shoot me by accident." The six of them immediately turned when a particularly loud explosion echoed in the distance. Something was lighting the sky up in the distance.

"Let's move." Gillard said and the six of them took off at a jog off the road. Roman immediately regretted moving with them as his shoes weren't suited for running on wet grass, especially at night. After what seemed like an agonizing hour of trying not to slip, they reached a small hill covered with trees that separated them from whatever that was going on.

"Mother of God." One of Gillard's soldiers whispered. In front of them was a one sided firefight between what looked to be bandits and survivors in a small clearing outside a farm house.

The bandits looked to be well organized if not tactically sound as Roman could see muzzle flash erupting all around the survivors. He noted that they were using the trees to keep concealed though the weapon fire was still giving them away.

Roman could see that most of the survivors being attacked were either dead or dying out in the open.

Bodies were illumined from a nearby campfire, as far as he could see those that were still alive had taken cover behind their cars or in the house. They were exchanging fire with hunting rifles, shotguns and handguns while the attackers seemed to have fully or semiautomatic weapons.

Most of the shots seemed to be directed at the remaining survivors while a few were targeting the downed bodies. Looking closely he could make out what he assumed was a few wounded people that tried making a run for their vehicles.

Speaking of which, he could see that at least one of their cars was nothing more than a burning pyre. To him this meant that whoever these bandits were, they were armed to the point that they had something that could blow a car up.

"Orders?" A gruff woman's voice asked from Roman's left.

"Reconnaissance is our first priority, other than that Marissa; you can fire if fired upon other than that."

"That's bullshit."

"Zip it soldier."

"We're soldiers not monsters, we should do something." She argued back, Roman sighed.

"Engaging a foe in the middle of the night when no one knows who we are isn't a smart idea. Not to mention it seems like they've got those people down there thoroughly surrounded. If we attack one side we'll still be viable targets for the others. We also don't have the manpower to encircle them and if we bring the others with us then we're leaving the convoy behind, which I would definitely not want to risk." At that moment the gunfire slowed down and Roman looked down to see that several men and woman were walking out into the open with their hands up.

"The fools." Gillard said as they watched dozens of armed men and women walk slowly out into the opening. Roman could see that they weren't soldiers but just regular civilians.

They all looked to be equipped with outdated surplus military surplus gear; though he did take note that they had an arsenal of weapons they had. The most notably was the large amount of Kalashnikov weapons.

Without any preamble though one person stepped forward and emptied their magazine into the group. There were screams of pain and terror but they were mostly drowned out by the rattle of automatic fire.

"Shit." Someone whispered but Roman wasn't sure who as he heard something moving behind them. Turning around he quickly brought up his rifle and fired twice at the figure standing several feet away from them. Thankfully it wasn't anyone from Roman's group but he knew instantly that things were about to get hairy.

Whoever they were fell down immediately, Roman looked over his shoulder down at the clearing. Dozens of armed individuals were running up the hill at them. Gillard and his men were firing now; Marissa and a man fired their M203 launchers.

Each one emitted a loud thump and a few seconds later two loud booms echoed in the clearing. The snap and crackle of weapons fire filled the void afterwards.

"We need to move!" Roman said as he put another round into the person he shot at, some kid that didn't even look old enough to drink.

"You go first! We'll be right behind you!" Gillard yelled before aiming his rifle and firing a five round burst. Dirt exploded around them as bullets landed near them, a few rounds whizzed over Roman's head as he made his way back down the hill.

Going downhill proved to be even worse than going up as he nearly slipped twice before reaching leveled ground again. Forty meters out from him, he could see the lights of the convoy come on, several of the soldiers that had stayed behind came out in a ten meter spread in front of him.

"Gillard's team is still up there! As soon as they get here, mount up, we've got to move." Roman called out to the nearest soldier, a woman by the name of Elizabeth Kalinin.

"Contacts to the front!" Someone yelled the thunderous sound of the M2 opening up, he could see the subdued tracer rounds lighting up a hundred feet out only to strike a group of figures who had been dashing across the road.

Roman ran up to his SUV, standing by the passenger door was Perry who held it open for him. Roman climbed in and immediately turned to the radio. From what he gathered from the radio chatter, it seemed that there were dozens of these people as there was also a group sighted to their rear.

The windows behind his and the driver seat shattered as a hail of bullets passed through them. Outside he could hear someone calling for a combat medic. Looking back at the hill that he had come down from, Roman could see a group of figures running down it.

Behind them though someone had thrown road flares that bathe the top of the hill in red illumination, which only served to hinder the pursing foe as they took up position on the hill to now fire down at them. More road flares were being tossed from up top as the attacking group sought to illuminate the entire area.

Though despite the apparent advantage of being on higher ground the firepower his group was being able to field was keeping them from being overwhelmed like the group of survivors they had seen. Looking behind him Roman could see another dozen civilian members of his group leaving their vehicles as well to fire their own weapons.

Roman had given them as many spare weapons as he could felt at the time, most of them now carried submachine guns and civilian versions of their M16s.

Though that didn't substitute training nor did it take away from the fact that more and more of these people were appearing over the hill. The sheer volume of small arms fire was deadly to both sides. He could see a trio of civvies fall immediately to the ground, while another two fall clutching themselves as they cry out in pain.

"We've got contacts to the rear!" Someone called out over the radio; Roman cursed loudly then picked up the handset.

"Everyone mount up, we're getting out of here." He said before stepping back out of the SUV, the pops, cracks and snaps of small arms fire was deafening. Roman could see that most of his soldiers were pulling back, though he was aware that there were a few unmoving bodies. The only thought that crossed his mind was how much he wished that they could strip what equipment they could off them.

"Sir! Get in!" Perry called out from behind as Roman watched several dozen people come running over the hill towards them.

Roman turned around and climbed back into the SUV, Perry was waiting in the driver seat for the Humvee get moving. The steady roar of the M2 machine gun rattled the windshield and shattered glass in the car.

Within moments, the convoy was pulling ahead, though a few bullets were still impacting their vehicles with a loud clang. Roman looked out to see people rushing down towards them but as they gained distance they fell behind.

The one thing that really seemed to stick out to him was a flag. While was difficult to tell exactly what it was but as the flag bearer waved it he could vaguely make out some detail in the light of the road flares.

To him it looked like a black cloth with three red slashes and red wolf's head over it.

* * *

 **Elsewhere…**

Jaune was woken up by gentle shaking, though a small part of his mind reacted in absolute terror. He rolled away only to get into a low crouch with his hand on his Glock which he had kept in its holster near him.

Crouched down in front of him was Qrow who had his hands up and a look of confusion on his face. Jaune felt guilt rush him as his face heated up and pulled his hand away from the gun.

"Sorry Qrow." The older man shook his head slightly.

"No need to be sorry kid, I understand that we're all tense." Jaune sighed.

"I know but I'm still sorry."

"Hey now you didn't shoot me so I'm totally fine." The older man joked and Jaune couldn't help but feel a small smile touch his face.

"I guess there's a plus side to everything."

"Oh yea, on one hand we can get torn apart from the living dead or shot and in your case sexual used then probably shot." Jaune blinked.

"Sexual used?" Qrow grinned.

"Yea, we've been speculating why that crazy girl was so interested in you." Jaune scrunched up his nose a little.

"So the speculation is that she wants me as some sex slave?" Qrow shrugged.

"God you make it sound like I'm in some shitty fanfiction."

"Fan what?"

"Don't worry about it." Qrow just chuckled as he took the spot where Jaune was.

"So what do you think?" He asked and Jaune tilted his head, unsure what he meant.

"I mean that girl; I forget her name."

"Oh Cinder?" Qrow snapped his fingers.

"Yup, it's kind of a weird name now that I think about it." Jaune snorted.

"That's rich coming from a guy named Qrow, you even spell it differently." Qrow put his hand to his chest in mock pain.

"That wounds me Jaune but I guess I will concede that it isn't a common name, I suppose Raven has the better name."

"Raven?" Jaune asked but Qrow had fallen silent. Jaune knew that Qrow was far older than anyone in the group by at least a decade. As Jaune watched him sit there staring blankly into the fire, the hint of old painful memories wading through his red eyes made Qrow look far older than he should be.

"Qrow?" Jaune called out again and he finally looked up, recognition forming in his eyes.

"Oh sorry about that."

"Something I should know?" Jaune asked but Qrow shook his head.

"Nah, I was just remembering some old stuff."

"Alright then." The two of them sat there in silence after that, Jaune wasn't sure what to say nor did it seem like Qrow really wanted to talk.

"Hello Jaune, hello Mr. Branwen." A new voice came up from behind Jaune and he looked over his should to see Pyrrha. She wasn't wearing her vest and her hair was surprisingly no longer tied in a ponytail, her red hair, voluptuous from no longer being tied up was now cascading over her right shoulder.

"How many times do I have to repeat myself? Call me Qrow." Qrow complained as the red hair girl sat down next to Jaune. To Jaunes eyes it looked as if Pyrrha turned a little red from embarrassment but it was a little hard to tell due to the light of the fire.

"Sorry." Qrow huffed softly.

"Don't worry about it kid." Qrow leaned back on the ground with one hand behind his head and his other arm over his eyes.

"Well since you're both awake, it's now your watch. Wake up Mina and Neptune when it's around three." A thought formed in Jaune's mind, as he patted his pockets and remembered that he didn't have his phone anymore, nor did he have a watch.

"Is something a matter Jaune?" Pyrrha asked seeing him pat himself over.

"Do you have the time?" He asked but Pyrrha shook her head.

"It's half past ten." Qrow mumbled from where he was lying down.

"It's only 10:30?"

"Is that surprising?" Pyrrha asked and Jaune nodded.

"Honestly it felt like it should be later than that." Pyrrha shrugged.

"I guess it's easy to lose track of things like that." Jaune sighed as he stretched and stoop up, holding his hand down towards Pyrrha.

"Come on, we've got watch duty." Pyrrha gripped his hand and he pulled her to her feet. He couldn't help but note how smooth and cool her hand was in his.

"Jaune." Qrow called out to him and he turned to see Qrow holding up a wristwatch.

"Take it." Jaune took it from the older man.

"Thanks Qrow." Jaune said but the older man didn't say anything as he looked to already be asleep. Turning around he could see Pyrrha was walking over to the truck where she had her rifle propped up against the side with her vest sitting next to it.

Jaune turned and walked towards the Mustang to get the rest of his belongings out from the passenger seat. As he reached out for the door handle he only then realized that Yang was in fact inside of Mustang, peering closer he could see that she looked to be completely asleep.

A sigh escaped his lips, as much as he wanted to have his vest and rifle. He didn't want to wake Yang up, so he checked himself for what he had on him. He still had the KA-Bar knife, along with two extra magazines for his Glock.

"Jaune?" Pyrrha asked from behind and he looked over his shoulder at her.

"Yea?"

"You don't wanna wake Yang?" She asked nodding towards the car and Jaune shrugged.

"Besides that you've got your rifle, between that and my handgun we should be fine." Pyrrha raised an eyebrow.

"Really Jaune, especially after what we've seen out there?" Jaune shrugged again.

"Look Pyrrha if we encounter a group of zombies that we can't take on then we're probably all screwed anyways." Pyrrha frowned.

"That's kind of pessimistic."

"Well pessimism is kind of a given now."

"I guess, but I still think you should be careful about that attitude it can affect the others as well." Jaune scratched his cheek.

"Fine, fine, I'll be more cautious in what I say around the others." He turned away to heads towards the forest leaving Pyrrha standing alone for a few moments until she jogged to catch up with him. By the time she caught up they had both entered the forest, drops of water from tree branches peppering them continuously.

"Jaune." Pyrrha said her voice a lot lower now. She could vaguely see his outline stopping to turn to her.

"Pyrrha, it's a lot more effective for us to watch separate sides."

"I know but I wanted to ask, do you have your walkie talkie?" The sound of Jaune patting his body was his response to her question.

"Nope." Pyrrha couldn't help but smile a little as she opened the pouch that held her walkie talkie; reaching out with her free hand she grabbed his arm. She lowered her hand to grasp his wrist and bring his hand up in which she put the walkie talkie into his grasp.

However she didn't feel like letting go. While it was wet out from the rain and the temperature was dropping fast due to their elevation, the warmth that emitted from his hand was comforting.

Yet despite that warmth there was a roughness to his hands that was alien to her, yet it called out to her to feel it more.

She could feel her heart hammering in her chest as she decided to step closer to him. She could sense the hesitation in his body as she did this but she wasn't sure why she had, no, needed to do this.

Was it the call of nature, the whispers of her heart, or the machinations of the inner most part of her mind of what she was doing?

Whatever it was, it could not be denied.

"Pyrrha?" Jaune finally asked his voice more than a few octaves higher as he struggled to respond to how close she was to him. Even now in the rain and mountains, Jaune could smell the enticing aroma of cinnamon in her hair. Why it was still present, he did not know but he knew that he liked it.

"Jaune." Pyrrha whispered as she leaned forward towards him, even in the dark he could see the outline of her head come towards his. Jaune's mind went into a full blown melt down.

Pyrrha's mind raced as she leaned towards Jaune, she wasn't sure what she was doing. As her lips met Jaune's though everything in her mind went still.

Jaune's chaotic mess of thoughts was all thrown out the proverbial window as Pyrrha kissed him. Warmth spread in his chest that filtered down his spine before sending a tingly sensation throughout his body.

After what seemed like a blissful eternity Pyrrha stepped away from him. Jaune stood still and didn't say anything as the two of them stood silently in the nighttime forest.

"Well?" Pyrrha finally asked.

"Uhhhh, it was nice?" The moment the words left his mouth, Jaune knew that wasn't the right thing to say.

"I guess that being my first kiss does mean I'm not the best kisser in the world." Jaune cursed himself mentally.

"Uh, no, what I meant was that it was super nice. The best kiss I've ever received, ten out of ten would kiss again." Jaune felt like slapping himself as he started to back up.

"Sooooo, we should get back to our watch. I'll, uh, stay here and you can, uh, cover the other side." Jaune said as he promptly turned around and walked further away from the camp.

"O-okay." Pyrrha said as she heard his receding footsteps in the dark forest. Soon she was just left alone in the dark with her clothes getting slowly soaked by the dribbles of water from overhanging branches and rain. After a few more moments she crouched down and covered her face with both hands, embarrassment soaking her mood.

"I'm such an idiot." She whispered to herself, she pushed too far and now Jaune probably thinks she's being too pushy.

She sighed as she stood up straight and headed towards camp, she needed to get another walkie talkie then go take her spot for her watch.

Jaune leaned against the side of a wet tree as he steadied his breathing and his thoughts. His second kiss by a girl, he touched his lips, the phantom sensation of her lips against his own lingered.

He was surprised that she made such a move; he would have never guessed that Pyrrha would do something like that so soon. Sure she liked him and he liked her but this wasn't something that he thought would happen. He didn't even tell her how much he actually liked the kiss, he groaned slightly at how much of a jerk he was for not doing that.

Sighing he slapped both of his cheeks, the stinging sensation brought him back to the present as he realized that he was in the middle of a forest at night as it rained with zombies in the world. Had this been a movie or a show surely he'd been eaten by a zombie.

Reaching down he checked his waist to make sure his Glock and holster was still on him. Feeling the familiar cold grip of the handgun he stepped away from the tree and closed his eyes. He began to slow his breathing down as he did his best to listen to the surrounding area.

There didn't seem to be anything, the steady misty rain wasn't as noisy as the runoff that was coming from the trees and branches it soaked.

Something was off though, he wasn't sure what but the more he listened the stronger the feeling. Opening his eyes he looked around, while his vision had adjusted to the night it was still difficult to discern any true detail.

Pulling his Glock out of its holster, Jaune stepped forward slowly. Something rustled to his left and he stopped, looking towards the direction he couldn't see anything. Crouching low he slowly made his way over, carefully stepping down as he knew that he could give his position away at any second.

There was more rustling around him but he didn't move towards the sound. Raising his Glock he scanned the surrounding area, he didn't turn on the flashlight though as much as he wanted to just yet.

Something pressed against the back of his head and his heart sunk as someone spoke softly behind him.

"Don't move."

* * *

 **Elsewhere…**

She crawled slowly through the long grass, it was cold and wet but she had a job to do. As she reached the edge of the long grass she peered out to see a gas station next to the highway that was teeming with activity.

There were dozens of cars with dozens upon dozens of people milling around and laughing. It looked almost like any other get-together she's seen in her life; expect everyone carried a weapon.

A few were also carrying dead bodies and dumping them into what she assumed was either a ditch or a hole they dug out off to the side.

Whoever these people were, they were not the kind that would be welcoming to her if she was found. Mixing that in with the fact that she was a female in a now significantly harsher world, it would also mean that she would experience something she would rather avoid.

She got up in a crouch and unslung her weapon, a M110 rifle, off her back before lying down again. She flipped the M110 rifle's bipod down; she opened the caps on the Leupold sight before peering through it.

Looking through the telescopic sight she was able to see that they indeed match the description that she was given. All of them carried either Kalashnikov rifles or civilian model weapons, mainly submachine guns, shotguns and bolt action rifles.

Though they were definitely not soldiers, many of them just looked to be regular people. However there were a number of them that seemed to be equipped with military gear or equipment.

She wasn't sure how they got it but all she needed to know was that they had it. Scanning around she also noticed that they seemed to be congregating around the gas station. Looking at it she could see a line of people carrying supplies out of the stations while others used the pumps to fill jerry cans.

Looking back towards the building she saw a man walk out dress in all black yelling something. She couldn't read his lips but whatever he was saying it didn't look to be nice as a number of people looked uncomfortable or were backing away slowly.

At that moment there was a pop and she snapped her head up to see a white flare soaring into the sky from behind the gas station. Gunfire erupted as a new group fired at the gas station along with its nearby occupants.

People were screaming in terror and pain before more gunfire erupted as they returned fire, a few shots whizzed through the air above her head. Ignoring it she looked through her scope again to see the group at the gas station rallying around their apparent leader.

Though a number of them already looked to be dead or wounded on the floor. Turning her sight away from them she looked for where the gunfire was coming from. In the darkness of the surrounding area she could see the muzzle flash of multiple rifles firing at the group.

A loud burst of gunfire roared near her and she realized that there were people close to her as well. If they moved any closer they'll end up stumbling into her.

Getting caught now would be even more dangerous as whoever these people were would probably just kill her outright.

There were a few people that yelled near her but nothing to indicate that people were moving towards her.

"Don't let them escape!" A woman yelled and she looked through her scope again to see the people at the gas station getting into their vehicles before taking off down the road away from her. She could see that there were at least two dozen people on the ground along with a few cars that looked to be inoperative.

Looking at the entrance of the gas station she could see an armored truck, the kind used for transporting money backing up. As the leader got into the back and drove away, she noticed that someone had used black spray paint to draw what looked to be a wolf over three slashes on the wall of the gas station.

It had been marred by a splattering of blood as there were two people lay dead beneath it. She also recognized that it looked a lot like the image that she been told about.

"Clear!" Someone shouted nearby and a chorus of similar response rang out and she could see dozens of armed people wandering out onto the highway. They weren't soldiers but they looked to be a lot more equipped and organized than the gas station group.

"Robert! You okay?" Someone called out from the highway.

"Fuck! I'mma need some help here; one of those fuckers got my leg!" A voice called out, very close to her.

"Alright, don't cry, we're on our way." The voice from before called out in response, the bright illumination of a flashlight passing over her briefly and she cursed silently. She was in a bad position; the sound of chatter was starting to become more distinct as three people walked near her from her right.

She did her best to lie flat on the ground, the first two people walked by without noticing her. The third one, a man, stopped less than ten feet from her, completely oblivious, that was until he sparked up a lighter.

"What the?" The man in front of her said before fumbling for his gun, she fired twice. Both rounds ripping into his pelvis, he started screaming his lungs out in pain.

"HOLY SHIT! OH FUCK! WHAT THE FUCK!?" Things were kicking off now as she stood up and aimed the rifle at the other two men who had turned around. She fired twice again putting a round in each of them as they fell gunfire erupted from the other side of the road towards her.

The crack and pop of small arms fire ringing in her ears as she turned away from them to run into the dark.

She had parked her car about a mile away as she didn't want to alert the earlier group of her. Now though as she ran through the grass, with bullets whizzing or impacting near her, she sorely wished that she had parked closer.

"Catch her!"

"Fucking kill her already!"

"No! The Boss wants her alive!" People were yelling behind her as they chased her down, well it seemed that they wanted to take her alive. This was good in a sense as they weren't trying to kill her outright but it wasn't good since if she stopped they'd catch up with her.

She needed to turn around and kill or ward them off long enough for her to get into her car. Another flare must have been used as the landscape was bathe in an article white light, looking ahead she grinned as she saw her opportunity.

As she reached a cluster of trees that separated her and her car, she zigzagged between them; until she finally dove to the right behind a tree. Holding her breath she propped the M110 between her legs and waited.

After a few moments, the illumination of flashlights could be seen as her pursuers closed in, the flare had died away. She hoped they didn't use another as it would be so much easier to spot her if they did that. Several people jogged into the cluster of trees after her. As they ran past she stood up and fired twice into the closest pursuer.

He fell without a sound as she switched to another pursuer who stopped to look back, she fired twice again, and the man jerked to either side as each bullet struck him before falling back.

"Over here!" Someone shouted and she turned only to be blinded briefly as a flashlight shone in her face. She jumped behind another tree as the person fired a few shots at her, the bullets cracked loudly as they hit the tree.

Not wanting to stay still she ran forward towards another tree, in the corner of her eye she could see that the others were zeroing in on her relative position now.

Running behind another tree she braced herself and counted to three before crouching down then leaned out from behind the three. The pursuer from before was running towards her as she peaked out, before they could bring up their gun, she fired three times. The momentum of running carried the pursuer headlong onto the ground, he didn't get up.

She could see the light of another person and trained her rifle on where she believed the person who was holding the light was. She fired twice; she could see the light disappear as whoever was holding it fell to the ground.

There were only few left now, gunfire roared and the side of the tree exploded sending wood chips into her face. She stumbled back before slipping onto her backside, losing her grip on the M110; she could feel the pinpricks of where splinters had hit her face.

Rolling to the side she rose into a crouch and pulled out a P226 Mark 25 handgun. She turned to see one of them approaching from her right, before she could fire; they let loose a five round burst. She dove to the ground as the area around her exploded from the impacts.

Loose dirt, leaves, and wood flew into the air as they fired again. She crawled behind the tree and waited as they fired two more bursts. She looked around quickly to see if the other person was nearby, satisfied, she leaned out from the left side and fire three rounds at the light source.

However it seemed only one of her shots made a connection as the person yelled out in pain then started to swear loudly. They emptied their weapon in her direction and she hid behind the tree as a hail of bullets struck the area.

She could feel the impacts hitting the tree she was hiding behind, she hoped that the tree held out a little longer. As the gunfire went silent she ran out from cover, this time to the right. As she dashed to another tree she raised her handgun and fired two more times.

This time the shots connected as she heard something heavy fall to the ground. Someone was yelling now in the distance, no doubt the last pursuer.

She waited a little while, watching the trees for any signs of movement but there was nothing. No sound, no light, there was nothing but silence.

Slowly stepping away from the tree she made her way back to where she had dropped her rifle. As much as she preferred to leave the area and get as much distance as she could from these people, she would like to not leave behind such a valuable weapon.

Retracing her steps she made it back to where she had lost it, she turned on the flashlight attachment on her handgun. Panning it around, she made sure not to lift it up as it could give away her position.

She finally found the rifle, half buried under some leaves, turning the light off she holstered her handgun. Leaning down she picked up the rifle and stood up.

"Well aren't you a fighter." A woman said from behind her and she whipped around only for a flash of pain to erupt across her face as someone punched her.

Reeling back she emptied the remainder of the M110's twenty round magazine but whoever attacked her laughed as they kicked her from behind. She stumbled and fell forward; she rolled to the side and got up.

However before she could do anything, something hit her from behind again sending her stumbling into a tree.

"You've got a lot of guts taking on my men like that, I respect that, but you need to die now." Her attacker said calmly, she pushed herself from the tree. Only to get a fist striking her face, she fell to the ground and rolled again to the side but didn't get up.

She reached for her belt and pried off a cylindrical device. She slowly got to her feet and faced what direction she hoped that she had parked her car.

"Given up? That's fine but remember this as you die, power trumps all in its way." The voice said from her right but she didn't respond as she grinned and pulled the pin on the stun grenade then tossed it to the side as she closed her eyes.

There was a loud bang and she could barely hear anything aside from a loud ringing in her ears as she took off. She nearly slipped several times as she raced through the trees, narrowly avoiding most and glancing off a few that nearly sent her to the ground.

After what seemed like an agonizing long time, she finally made it out of the trees. Whether or not she was near her car was still up in the air, so she pulled out the car keys and clicked them.

There was a beep of a car unlocking to her left and she immediately took off towards it. She could see the faint glow of the car's welcome lights as they started to dim.

Behind her there was a loud crack and she found herself spinning to the right as a white hot lance of pain emerged from her left arm. Falling to the ground, she scrambled once more to her feet and continued running towards where her car was.

Soon she finally made it as another crack erupted behind her, this time missing her but smashing into the driver side window, shattering it completely. She didn't care as she pried the door open and sat in down in the driver seat.

Fumbling with her keys she slotted it into the ignition and the car roared to life. She threw it in reverse as another bullet crack her windshield of the car and hit the passenger seat.

Twisting the steering wheel the car spun around and she changed it into drive then hit the gas pedal taking off through the field.

She turned south and drove until she found a clearing between the trees. Turning right she drove towards the highway she reached the road. Looking to her right she could see the lights of the gas station, along with the headlights of cars. She needed to get out of there before they started chasing her.

Spinning the car around she resumed heading south, the cold air and rain came through the shattered window, she could also feel the shattered glass under her ass but she didn't care.

She was alive and that was all that mattered.

Something started to ring and she looked over towards the passenger seat. The bright screen of a phone was on as someone was calling her; she pulled to the side of the road and picked up the phone.

"Is it done?" Roman's voice asked as she turned on the overhead light and pulled down the visor to look into its mirror. Heterochromia iridum eyes stared back at her, her left eye was brown while her right was pale pink.

"Are you even listening to me?" Roman asked exasperated over the phone and she smiled as she said nothing.

"God damn it Neo."

* * *

 **Oh Boy it's been a while.**

 **Fuck it has been a while, well I'm sure more than a few of you may have wondered where I may have gone off to well, I had a lot of writing to do. The problem was most of that writing was academic. Which I still have a bunch to work on as well, so there goes my weekends.**

 **Also I didn't actually start writing this chapter until Wednesday night as I felt like it was far overdue on my part for putting up a new chapter.**

 **On that note, I can safely say that I technically did finish the first chapter of the New Lost Sons Story, right now I'm looking for anyone who's willing to do a one time job of being Betas for it but whatever.**

 **So then I hoped you all enjoyed this chapter, feel free to leave your thoughts and reviews on it or PM me if there's anything you wanna discuss, I'm more than willing to listen and talk about almost anything.**

 **Till next time!**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"Get up." The voice behind him said, Jaune wanted to speak but could quite manage to get any words out. His mouth and throat were dry to the point that it felt as if he had stuffed his own mouth with cotton.

"I said, up." The voice said again and bumped the back of Jaune's head slightly with the barrel of a gun. Jaune slowly began to stand up straight and began to move his arms, still holding onto his Glock.

"Stop." The voice commanded and Jaune halted his movement, as much as he wanted to turn around to fire at this stranger. He knew that he was at a disadvantage in this as more than likely the person would ventilate the inside of his skull over the foliage.

Without warning, someone grabbed his Glock while two people grabbed both of his arms. Jaune stood there with his arms being held with a gun to the back of his head, he sighed. This was going to be a problem.

"Now who are you?" The voice asked from behind but before he spoke the stranger interrupted him.

"Don't raise your voice; if you try to call out to your friends I'll put you down kid." Jaune didn't say anything at that and after a few moments the man spoke up again.

"Alright, now, who are you?" Jaune cleared his throat.

"My name is Jaune Arc, a high school student from Vale. I'm here with my friends and family trying to head to Mountain Glenn to seek refuge. We're armed and we will defend ourselves if necessary."

"You're from Vale?" The man asked.

"Yes."

"And you're a High School student?"

"Yes."

"Interesting." The man said and Jaune felt a quick wave of relief as he felt the barrel of the gun being removed from the back of his head. The people who were holding his arms let go and Jaune rolled his shoulders.

"Soooo…" Jaune said after a moment and the bright light of a flashlight temporally blinded him. Blinking his eyes rapidly, Jaune's vision adjusted to see standing before him was half a dozen soldiers in full kit, including night vision goggles which were folded up away from their eyes.

All of them carried M4A1 carbines, with various attachments. Though Jaune did note that one of them had what looked to be a M203 attached to his weapon. If that was fired at them, then they would not only lose a car and supplies but someone would no doubt get injured or worse.

"Well, uh, hi there." Jaune said unsure of what to say at the assembled group of soldiers that had less than five minutes ago had a gun pointed to the back of his head, ready to kill him.

"Take us to your group kid, then pack up, we're taking you with us." Jaune furrowed his brow.

"Taking us where?" He wasn't sure he liked where this was going but one of the soldiers gave him an, interesting to say at least, smile.

"We're taking you to Mountain Glenn."

* * *

 **Later…**

The group was assembled on one side of the dim campfire which Qrow was busy nursing with a stick to keep it from going out. Sergeant Aaron Vasquez, the man who had put the gun to the back of Jaune's head and was leading the squad in a long range patrol stood opposite of them with his arms folded.

He was a short man and stocky man with a busy beard, but surprisingly had jovial eyes. It openly contradict the seemingly permanent scowl that he had on his face to the point that if Jaune focused on one or the either that it felt like two different people completely.

"So you're actually soldiers?" Weiss was the first to speak up after Aaron told them about taking them to Mountain Glenn, the older man nodded.

"Yes Ms. Schnee, we're from Baker Company, First Battalion, of the 44th Infantry Regiment. We were stationed down at Fort Ambleside when things started going nuts." Qrow looked up at him.

"Isn't Ambleside outside Bridgeport?" The man nodded.

"It was." Qrow tossed the stick aside and leaned back slightly, curiosity on his face.

"Then how come you're here? Shouldn't the Army be trying to hold as many cities as it can?" The Sergeant didn't say anything at first but one of the other soldiers did, she cleared her throat catching everyone's attention.

"We understand what you're saying and it's true that the Army is supposed to be holding the cities for the safety of the populace but that's why we're here now instead of Bridgeport." Jaune felt a creeping feeling emerge inside.

"It's gone, isn't it?" He asked and the group turned looked towards him before looking back at the soldier who nodded.

"How? You said there was a fort there, how did the city fall?" Blake asked her voice rising at this news.

"By the time we got our orders to deploy, whatever that was happening in Vale already happened there, we were ordered to assist the local police to try and quell the riots but they weren't really riots at that point but I don't think anyone really understood that until it was too late. Fuck I barely think we really understand it even now." The woman said before she started fiddling with her gloves, it was obvious that she didn't want to continue talking so Aaron spoke up again.

"Even then we were at half strength when the call came down as a significant number of personnel stay in Bridgeport since the Army shells up a fund to help house them instead of keeping them on base all the time. They figured the extra cost was worth it if they prevent soldiers from going stir-crazy at being cooped up on a base for so long." The Sergeant fiddled with his pack as he cleared his throat.

"Continue please." Mina said as no one said anything.

"Well, this next part is a little hard for me." Aaron said and the others nodded in agreement, he cleared his throat again.

"Well, we arrived in the city to see that it was already tittering on collapse. The regiments were spread out in the city to take control of the situation as it grew too large for the local police to handle plus the orders for Martial Law had been passed down. My Company was directed to take the place of the local police that were blocking the market district off as people were trying to get to it. The general assumption was that people wanted to loot and rip apart the stores in there but in hindsight I suppose they headed to the market district as it's a good shortcut to the highway which they could use to escape the city. We were ordered to hold them back with nonlethal force, which we found ridiculous for an Army Company to be ordered to do but we followed our orders like any good soldier would. So there we were, a hundred and fifty men holding an entire market district against hundreds, maybe even thousands of people running for their lives. This didn't just include standing in the streets, Captain Harker our Company Commanding Officer had the weapons section shift to the buildings to hold them down as people were busting down doors or windows with whatever they had on hand. I think by the end of the first hour we actually lost a few men as people were desperate to escape so there were a lot of stabbings. We broke bones and teeth, knocking men and women to the ground. We knew it was wrong but those people scared the hell out of us, funny right? A group of soldiers with body armor, guns, and our M113 Armored Personnel Carriers, all of them terrified at the seething mass before them but they should have been far more scared of what was chasing those people." Jaune watched as the man's face changed a little as memories no doubt resurfaced in his mind.

* * *

 **Earlier that Week…**

"Keep those people back!" Sergeant Daehler voice came over the Company's radio frequency but Aaron mostly ignored it as he was using his rifle to push back two men that had shoved Private Madison Hall over.

"Let us through you fucking pigs!" One of the men screamed in his face as Aaron pushed him to the ground before retreating a few steps to cover Hall as she got up.

"You okay Hall?!" He yelled the roar of the crowd as they tried to get past the infantrymen was loud enough to drown out any conversation that wasn't a full blown yell.

"Just dandy Sarge!" She replied before hitting one of the men that tackled her in the face with the butt of her rifle. The man fell back with a broken jaw, Aaron wished she hadn't done that though as this only served to add fuel on a fire that was quickly getting too hot for them to handle. On the bright side he was now thoroughly grateful for the order to have them clear their weapons of ammunition in case things like this happen.

A soldier shooting into a crowd of civilians would not only be a disastrous issue for public relations but it would surely land them in a cell to lounge in before a court martial.

"Watch what you do there Hall!" He yelled as shoved a woman to the side as she tried to duck past him, she fell with a yelp to the asphalt and Private Garder stepped towards her before lifting her up by the elbow then pushed her back into the crowd.

Someone called out a warning but whatever it was Aaron didn't hear it until the screaming started. He snapped his head towards the sound and saw a group of people on fire, someone had tossed a firebomb.

Several civilians were screaming in absolute pain while two soldiers were being brought to the ground by their squad mates.

"Watch out!" Aaron looked up to see another spinning bottle with a burning cloth at the end fly over his head and shatter on the ground sending soldiers scattering to avoid the flames.

"Fuck you!" Someone screamed and Aaron turned to see Hall on the ground again but writhing in pain both of her hands clutched her neck. Blood was oozing out between her fingers; the man he had shoved aside earlier had returned and now carried a blood slick kitchen knife. He looked down to see Hall locking eyes with him, the terror in her eyes was jarring.

Before he could react Garder stepped into the fray and slammed the butt of his rifle into the side of the man's head, the man dropped like a sack of rocks. The kitchen knife slipped from his fingers to be lost in the pressing mass of people, Aaron keyed his throat mic.

"This is Vasquez! I need a medic here!" He said as he ran towards Hall, slinging his rifle he gestured towards her legs.

"Garder! Grab her legs, we gotta move!" The man nodded before thumping another man that tried running past in the side of his head, sending him sprawling to the ground. The rest of Aaron's squad moved as they saw what was going on, Garder grabbed Hall's legs.

"Let's go Sarge!" He yelled and as one they hoisted the woman up then began to move back towards the M113 transports that were situated thirty feet back lining the road as the Company's last barrier.

There were thirty officers of the Bridgeport Police force still standing in reserve as they rested in their riot gear. They had already dealt with the crowd earlier before they arrived to take their place so they had this opportunity to rest as much as they could.

Now though as the crowd grew more violent, almost desperate, Aaron had the feeling that they would be called in to cover the buildings. They had already broken off squads to hold up in them to fortify the surrounding buildings as people had in fact already broken in to bypass the street blockade. The police had apprehended a number of them and taken them away as squads of soldiers took their place.

"We need a medic here!" Aaron called out again as they finally set Hall down, she was turning white as a clean linen sheet.

"I'm here!" Someone shouted and Aaron turned to see the platoon's medic Christian Mitchell come running, already opening his bag as he slid on the asphalt ground.

"Holy shit." He said as he immediately set to work. Aaron looked up to see the remaining Bridgeport riot police pulling on their helmets and clear plastic shields before running past them.

Looking back towards the crowd, he could see that their line was starting to bend at the mass of people. However he noticed that the atmosphere had started to change, at first it seemed like a hysteric anger at them for not letting them through but now there was only one mood that seemed to be evident.

It was fear. A fear so extreme that Aaron had no idea what was causing it, the cries and wails of men and women with the constant shrill of children crying in fear was echoing throughout the street.

"What the fuck is going on?" He said aloud but no one answered him as screams of pain and heart stopping terror started to appear. The civilians closest to them seemed to collectively stop as if pondering the sound like them but like a water tap cranked to max, they started pushing with a renewed vigor.

Though it wasn't some desire to loot or break free, it was the desire to live. He wasn't sure what was going on but he knew that things were about to get worse.

"This is Lieutenant Basker to all Baker Company elements! Weapons free! I repeat weapons free! Don't let them through!" The radio frequency exploded with questions from the various NCOs but Aaron ignored it as he looked up to see the crowd dispersing. He blinked in surprise at how quick the people were moving but the more he watched them the more he realized something.

They were all heading in one general direction. More specifically they were headed both away from them and from the center of the city. There were still a number of people moaning on the ground, the riot police immediately set forth into arresting all of them.

"Sarge?" He turned to see the members of his squad jogging up to him. Like him all of their weapons were empty from their previous order but he could see a few of them had their hands on magazine pouches.

"What is it Mendoza?" He addressed the nearest man, Private Jose Mendoza, a lanky teen that wasn't even old enough to drink and the newest member of their squad.

"How is she?" He asked looking behind him and Aaron spun to see Mitchell sitting back, he had white latex gloves on that were smeared with blood. Garder was also kneeling next to Hall with a stunned look on his face.

"Mitchell?" Aaron asked already knowing the answer as the vacant eye man looked towards him.

"She's dead." The medic said as he stood up, peeling the bloody gloves and tossing them aside before he jogged away to attend to others that needed him.

"What the hell?" Mendoza said as more screaming could be heard and Aaron turned to see that everyone was looking back towards the street. He steeled himself as no doubt the rioters were coming back, walking forward however he was greeted by another sight.

People were running in terror only to be brought down by others that grabbed, tackled or dragged them to the ground. The soldiers watched, frozen in surprise as those that dragged people down began to bite or claw at the people they had taken with them.

"Holy shit, are they eating them!?" Someone yelled nearby and a few dozen heads snapped to look at them. Aaron felt his mouth go dry as he could see blood and entrails dripping from their mouths. They got up and sprinted towards them, Aaron pulled a magazine out before slotting it into his rifle.

As he pulled the charging handle back and raised the rifle, the people had reached the riot police who had been busy handcuffing people. There were yells of surprise before screams of pain overtook that as they tore at the officers.

"Form up on me!" Aaron called out and the rest of his squad moved to stand shoulder to shoulder with him. Further down the street more people came sprinting around the corner and zeroed in on them.

"Open fire! Don't let them get too close!" Aaron looked over his shoulder to see Harker standing on top of one of the M113 carriers.

"Sarge!?" Mendoza and the others looked over at him, he sighed as he raised his rifle. Lining the sights up with a woman that had brushed past the panicking riot police, he fired once. There was a puff of blood and she jerked to her right.

Instead of falling though, she kept running and Aaron could feel his hands grow could. All along the line of infantrymen, they began to fire selectively, most of them aiming to incapacitate the people. None of them expected the civilians to keep running.

They began to panic as well as the people closed in on them. The careful, selective fire turned into loose bursts of small arms fire that ripped not only into the people charging them but a few of the still standing riot police.

Aaron fired his rifle three more times, this time the woman fell face down and didn't move. He didn't have time to inspect her as he lined up his rifle with another person, an older man who was dressed in a tattered, blood stained, business suit.

Firing a five round burst that stitched its way up his torso, which left a misty spray of blood around him as he fell down.

"Pull back! Get behind the APCs!" Lieutenant Basker was yelling nearby, he stopped next to Aaron.

"Vasquez get your squad into that building and find Sergeant Dunmer, no one's heard anything from them." Basker yelled pointing to a three story building to their right. A few of the ground story windows were smashed but otherwise looked untouched.

"Squad on me!" Aaron called out and the remaining members of his squad moved towards him, firing bursts of gunfire down the street at the charging people. The simultaneous roar of four M2 Browning machine guns boomed overhead as the gunners for the M113s opened fired.

Aaron and his squad crouched down and ran to the sidewalk outside the building that Dunmer was supposed to be in.

"Sarge!? What are we doing over here?" Specialist Hilda Yvette, who wielded the squad's only M249, asked after letting loose a five second long burst. Half a dozen people fell dead as they were riddled with the fire from the light machine gun.

"We need to find Sergeant Dunmer and his squad." Aaron said as he fired three five round bursts of his own.

"That's fucking crazy! Do you see those people?! They're fucking monsters!" Private Ash Karelia yelled, her voice reaching near hysterical levels.

"Shut up Karelia, we never leave someone behind." Garder snapped at the shorter woman.

"That's enough! We're going in and that's final, Yvette, Garder, Mendoza, and Gemma. You four stay here and keep our exit clear. Cobb, Karelia, Shaw, and Ayers you're with me." Aaron said as he stood up and kicked open the wooden double door entrance to the building.

Keeping his weapon up, he quickly checked to his left and right but there was nothing there except a receptionist desk on one side with several chairs on the other. Looking straight ahead he could see the pale florescent lights of a carpeted hallway stretched out to a pair of elevator doors.

He could see loose papers and bags lying abandoned in the hallway. However he also noticed that there were pocket marks on the walls along with empty casings on the floor.

Did Dunmer's squad get into a fire fight and if so, how did no one notice that? Walking briskly down the hall, the cracks and pops of small arms fire was loud even inside the building.

Turning left on a corner he found his answer. Half a dozen people were lying dead in pools of blood that soaked into the carpet; one of them was a soldier that looked to have been ravaged by an animal. His plate carrier was torn aside and his fatigues ripped up to showcase the bloody torn skin of his torso.

Aaron walked closer his rifle still aimed down the hallway in case any tried to get the jump on him. As he stood over them, he kneeled down to inspect the bodies.

As he looked over the others, he realized that all of them had the common factor of vicious bite marks, either on their arms, necks, shoulders, or legs. On top some of them had more ruined bodies of stripped flesh and muscle revealing their anatomy. The metallic smell of blood hung heavily in the air that it made him want to gag.

Looking down at them again he could see that their hands and faces were also bloody but he realized that none if not most of that blood had come from them but in fact the soldier.

"Contacts!" Cobb shouted from behind him and the roar of his M4A1 rattled Aaron's head as he fired down the hall. Looking up he could see several people sprinting towards him, all of them didn't look to be in the condition to be moving.

The lead woman had the skin ripped off from the lower part of her face, revealing blood stained teeth that were wide open. Behind her was a smaller dark skinned man who's right arm ended at the elbow in a mess of torn skin and muscle.

The burst of fire from Cobb downed the woman but the others were going regardless of the rounds smacking into their bodies. Aaron raised his rifle and emptied his magazine into the group; the combine fire was able to kill most of them. The last one a short teen with a blonde pixie cut was less than a dozen feet from him.

Letting go of his rifle, he pulled out his SIG Sauer P320 and unloaded four rounds into her chest. She fell with an audible grunt, however gunfire raged behind them. Holstering his sidearm, he quickly dumped the spent magazine and replaced it with a full one.

"Get off me!" Ayers screamed and Aaron saw two people had dragged him to the ground; the man struggled to keep both of them away. Shaw and Karelia were firing down the other hallway were more of these people were charging out of.

Cobb ran over to pry them off; Aaron moved to the side with his rifle up and was going to shout for Cobb to stand aside so he could shoot the people when he heard the thuds of more footsteps behind him. Spinning around Aaron saw even more people rushing into the hallway towards them.

"Cobb! Get him up! There are more of them!" He screamed as he fired three rounds bursts at the oncoming mass. He could feel his heart hammering in his chest as he backed up a few more feet but knew that he was out of room to go.

The hallway seemed to shrink with the mass of bodies, his rifle clicked dry and he ejected the spent magazine then quickly reached for another one.

"Sarge! Get down!" Yvette screamed and Aaron dropped to one knee just as he released the charging handle on his rifle, cycling a new round into the chamber. The roar of the M249 in the enclosed hallway rattled his teeth as Yvette emptied the hundred round drum magazine.

Aaron turned around to see Cobb firing at the people that were standing up from Ayers. Who had a red mess where his face used to be, Aaron didn't have time to look further as Yvette's M249 clicked dry. Turning around he was surprised to see the hallway now littered with dead bodies.

Blood covered the walls and soaked into the carpet. The sounds of gunfire could still be heard outside, Aaron pulled out his magazine to see that it was almost empty again. Tucking it away, he pulled out a fresh one then slotted it into his rifle.

"Ayers is dead, sir." Cobb said as he walked up to him, his eyes scanning the hallway and dead bodies for any movement.

"What the fuck is going on? Those people fucking ripped his face off with their teeth!" Shaw said she changed magazines methodically but the trembling of her voice betrayed her appearance of steadiness.

"We got more out here!" Garder called out from the front of the building, the crackle of small arms fire reminding them that they weren't out of this yet.

"Yvette, get back to them, Cobb, Shaw you two stay here. Karelia you're with me, we still need to find out what happened to Dunmer." She snapped her head up to him.

"What?! Sarge, did you not just see what happened?! They're probably dead and so are we if we go looking for them." Cobb nodded.

"Sir I'm going to have to agree with her on this, there's something wrong with these people, getting shot didn't make them flinch or even yell in pain."

"Plus more than a few of them looked like they shouldn't have been alive, let alone moving." Shaw pointed out, Aaron sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Reaching for his radio he adjusted the frequency to first platoon.

"1-1 this is 2-2, how copy?" He asked as he looked towards a set of steel doors of an elevator.

"What is it Vasquez!? Have you found Dunmer yet?!" Basker's voice roared through the headset, the thunderous sound of people yelling and gunfire made it difficult to hear.

"Have you heard anything from Dunmer!?" Aaron asked raising his voice.

"Negative! Get them out of there or find out what happened then return!" Basker said and Aaron sighed as he looked towards the remaining members of his squad.

He wished his own platoon leader was here but Lieutenant Delafour wasn't; she was a good leader but had left to visit her sick mother in Vale. This left him, the senior noncommissioned officer for the platoon other than Sergeant Green of third squad and Ward of fifth.

"Let's move Karelia we've got to find them, even if it's only to confirm they're dead." Karelia scrunched her face in anger.

"This is such bullshit." Aaron stepped closer to her making sure to harden his face as he stood less than a foot from her face.

"That's enough, you're gonna shut the fuck up with that shit or god help me I'm gonna put my foot up your ass then drag you with me anyway." Karelia stared back before gritting out.

"Yes sir." He stepped back and hit the elevator button to call it down. There was a ring and the doors slid open to reveal four people crouched over something. Aaron swore as he raised his rifle and let loose a long burst into their backs.

The bullets ripped into their backs, sending mists of blood into the air. The four of them fell over dead, the elevator doors started to close but Aaron stuck his hand out to stop them as he slung his rifle.

Reaching down he grabbed one person by the leg and dragged them out, blood was pooling on the floor of the elevator now. Cobb joined him as the two of them pulled the people out of the elevator they saw what they had been crouched over.

Two bodies of soldiers were propped against the back of the elevator; both of them were like the one he had found in the hallway, their clothes ripped up, gear torn aside, and entrails spilling out of devoured skin. One looked to be Corporal Seymour who had a chunk from his throat ripped out. The other Aaron was unsure as the skin surrounding the person's face was skinless.

"Let's move." Aaron said as he stepped into the elevator, his boots leaving imprints in the pooled blood of the elevator. Karelia sighed as she stepped in after him; the two dead men made it a little cramped but nothing to worry about.

As the doors closed Aaron could hear the crackle of gunfire resuming with the whir of the elevator droning in the background.

"Sir, be honest with me. Do you really think we'll find them alive?" Karelia asked as there was a ding and the doors slid open to reveal an empty hallway.

He stepped out first and immediately turned right as Karelia turned left, Aaron could see that everything was normal. He took this as a good sign since nothing was attacking them instantly despite the noise of the brief fight downstairs.

Though he had to wonder, if that was really the case then how come no one from Dunmer's squad had tried contacting Lieutenant Basker. If seeing the dead soldiers so far was any indicator it would mean that this was going to be a short task for them.

"I don't know Karelia, I really don't, I wish we find them all okay but I'm thinking that they are truly dead but I want to make sure anyways." He could hear the woman sigh as he turned to her.

"Take that hallway and I'll go down this one, call out for them in each room and let me know if you find them. If you don't hear any responses though move to the next but don't go in any of them no matter what." Karelia nodded as she hefted her rifle and headed away from him. Aaron turned back around and moved down the hall with his rifle half raised, stopping in front of the first door.

It was a stained glass door with the label that said it was a law office, gripping the handle he opened the door. It swung away slowly as he stepped back with his rifle raised up, nothing came running out and he peered in.

"Valean Army! Anyone in here!" He called out but there was no response. Moving to the next door, he opened it and called out inside but there was no one.

Door after door he found no sign of Dunmer's squad, though he did find a few patches of empty rifle casings, magazines or blood splattered against the wall or soaking the carpet. Outside there was a few muffled booms that shattered a number of windows at once.

"Shit!" He yelled as he turned away from the door in front of him. Inside however he heard something drop with a loud thud. Stepping back he raised his rifle and watched the door but it didn't open nor did he hear the sound again.

Opening it slightly he could see the windows inside were shattered as glass covered the floor as far as he could see. At the same time he could see loose papers, books and a knocked over chair on the floor.

"Valean Army! Anyone here?" There was a moan and Aaron was going to pry his own fragmentation grenade from his belt when a voice replied.

"I'm here." The voice called out hoarsely and Aaron took his hand away from his belt as he entered the room. Sweeping his rifle around he could see that there was no one waiting for him, walking towards the desk he looked over it to see a pale soldier lying on the floor.

"You okay soldier?" Aaron asked as he moved around the desk and kneeled down next to her. He could see that she was in bad shape; she was holding a wad of gauze over her left hand that was tinged red.

"Let me see that hand soldier." Aaron said as he pulled out a small medical kit from a pouch inside his vest then pulling a wad of sterile gauze, she didn't answer.

"Hey, what's your name?" He asked looking down to see the woman slowly starting to close her eyes.

"Hey! Don't fall asleep now." Aaron yelled she opened her eyes; they looked tired and were bloodshot. He grabbed her arm and pushed down the sleeve. Gripping her forearm he could feel how warm her skin, taking off the bloody gauze he grimaced at seeing that three of her fingers seemed to have been bitten.

The index and middle finger were completely gone up to the proximal phalanx while her ring finger practically hung by the skin of her finger.

Keeping her arm up he placed a clean pad over her index and middle finger then quickly wrapped it tightly with gauze. Her ring finger was a different story, taking another pad, he gently moved it back into place, gripping it firmly he slowly wrapped it with gauze.

"Does that hurt?" He asked looking at the woman but she shook her head. Sweat beaded her deathly white face; he didn't try to show any concern on his face.

"Ish that bad?" She asked, her voice slurring a little.

"Don't worry about it." He said as he clicked on his throat mic.

"Karelia, are you there?" Within moments she responded.

"I'm here Sarge, you find anything?"

"Yea I've got a wounded soldier from Dunmer's squad here but she needs Mitchell to look at her now so we're leaving. Wait for us by the elevator; I should be able to carry her there."

"Roger that." Karelia said as Aaron wrapped her left arm around his shoulder then tucked his right arm under her armpit then lifted her up. She offered little help in moving but considering how she looks, he had little faith that she would have much to offer in terms of strength.

"You haven't answered my question solider, what's your name?" He asked as he didn't want her to fall asleep without him noticing.

"Didn't you ask me that already?" She responded after a few moments.

"True but you didn't answer me when I did."

"Oh." Aaron couldn't help but laugh a little as they exited the room. The hallway felt like it was three times the size now than when he had first come down it.

"My name's Private First Class Sharon Mackenzie." The soldier finally spoke up as they walked through the hallway; Aaron couldn't help but think that she wanted to say that louder but just wasn't able too.

"Well Mackenzie, if you don't mind me asking, where's Sergeant Dunmer and the rest of your squad?"

"Dead." She replied after a few moments of them walking, Aaron wasn't really surprised to hear that but he still felt sad to hear the death of fellow soldiers in his company.

"How did it happen?" He asked pressing for a few more details.

"We got swarmed by…them…I don't really know what to call them anymore but I know they're not people anymore." Aaron nodded his head slowly.

"Yea I don't know what kind of disease or illness is affecting these people but it has to be reversible or something."

"It's not a disease."

"What do you mean?"

"Sir, before Dunmer died he speculated that it was really the dead returning to life to attack the living."

"Wait, the dead returning? You mean zombies?"

"Yes."

"That's crazy Mackenzie, you know that right? That's something you read in a book or watched in a movie."

"That's what we thought as well but we were so very wrong." Aaron wasn't sure what to say to her at that point as she just started to mumble to herself. What he was sure about though was that he believed her when it came about the rest of Dunmer's squad being dead.

They turned the corner to see Karelia kneeling in front of the elevator with her rifle. The gunfire outside had also died down to a few sporadic bursts.

"Karelia, get the elevator please." She stood up and clicked the button. Aaron looked down at Mackenzie just in time to see her vomit dark red blood.

"Shit." He hissed as her legs have out.

"Mackenzie! Stay with me!" Aaron shouted as he held her up.

"I…I'm here." She murmured, blood covered her chin and Aaron knew that she didn't have long now.

"Holy shit, is she okay?" Karelia said as she ran over to wrap her other arm around her shoulders.

"She needs medical help now." Aaron said as they walked into the elevator, he slammed the button for the lobby and the door slid close.

"T-tell my family that I-I'm sorry." Mackenzie said.

"Shut up damn it." Aaron gritted as the door opened to reveal his squad waiting outside the elevator watching the hallways. He immediately noticed that Shaw and Gemma were missing along with more bodies in the hallway leading to the front door.

"What happened?" He asked as Cobb stood to take Karelia's place helping Mackenzie who seemed to have passed out.

"Dunmer's squad is gone, she's the last one." He said.

"Shit." Garder said and Aaron nodded towards the main hallway.

"What happened?"

"Fuckers swarmed us the moment Yvette ran dry with the SAW, Shaw and Gemma got taken when we started pulling back. The rest as you can see is obvious." He nodded saddened that two more from his squad were dead.

"Garder, Yvette, you have point, Karelia and Mendoza watch our back. Let's move people." The soldiers wordless moved forward with their weapons held ready.

When they reached the front room, Aaron could feel bile start to rise at seeing Shaw and Gemma. Both of them had their clothes and gear ripped up as those, people, ate them. Shaw had her right cheek torn off revealing blood stained teeth while Gemma's neck looked to be a chewed piece of raw steak.

Garder and Yvette pushed aside the doors of the entrance which broke off their hinges. Outside it looked like hell on Remnant. Bodies littered the street with large puddles of blood scattered throughout the area as if it had rained the crimson liquid.

"Holy shit." Yvette said as several soldiers from first platoon came up to them with their weapons aimed towards them.

"Find Mitchell, she needs help!" Aaron called out and two of the soldiers slung their weapons and took the Mackenzie from them who didn't even respond to being shifted from their shoulders.

"What the fuck is going on?" Karelia asked from behind him looking up Aaron could see soldiers walking amongst the bodies, kicking or poking with the barrels of their weapons. He was surprised to see that several of the Riot Police were alive as well though he could see they were terrible hurt due to the blood soaked bandages on them.

"Come on." Aaron said as he walked over towards the M113 carriers, the gunners looked exhausted while soldiers leaned against the metal hulls. All of them looked as if they were struggling to come to terms what they just did, Aaron himself was still trying to decide if this was a bad dream or not.

In the distance the pops and crackle of gunfire could be heard. Along with sirens, the sharp thumps of explosions in the distance. Why there were explosions Aaron didn't know but it didn't bode well for anyone if that was the case.

"Vasquez!" A voice called out and he turned to see the greyish green face of Basker along with Sergeant Bianchi of 1st Platoon whose fair hair looked darker than normal in contrast with the man's unusual pale face.

"Where's Dunmer?" Basker asked but Aaron shook his head.

"Mackenzie was the only one to make it apparently, you can ask her for more details after Doc Mitchell takes a look over her." Bianchi wiped his forward with the back of his hand.

"Did you encounter any inside while you were looking?" He nodded.

"Take any hits?" Basker asked and Aaron nodded again.

"Ayers, Shaw, and Gemma are dead." Basker rubbed his chin.

"Shit, we lost more than a dozen as well. The fifties were our anchor but there was just too many of them, ended up swarming us pretty good, I reckon there must have been a few hundred people that charged us."

"Fuck, what the hell is going on in this city?" Aaron muttered aloud.

"I don't know Vasquez but we're leaving." Basker said and Aaron blinked in surprised.

"Leaving?" The lieutenant nodded.

"Yes, an order from Regiment came through a little while before you came out, Major Hallowell wants all remaining Battalions to form up in the Southern Residential District. So we'll head west to the Battalion rallying point then head south from there."

"What happened to quelling the rioting?" Vasquez asked and Bianchi snorted derisively.

"Rioting? Come on Vasquez you know as well as us that this isn't rioting, this is mass insanity or something. There are people attacking each other even eating each other for heaven's sake. We need to regroup to come up with a new plan." Basker cleared his throat.

"Not only that but it seems we weren't the only ones to get attacked by these people."

"Who else?" Aaron asked.

"Charlie and Dog Company are currently trying to break free from their assigned positions but it seems that they're getting bogged down. No one from Echo Company is responding and Abel Company or what remains of it is hunkering down with some light armored elements from the 22nd Field Armor Regiment till we arrive there. Then the 22nd is shifting further west while we head south." Basker said and Bianchi nodded as he shifted his vest.

"It seems the other regiments aren't holding up so well either so now everyone's trying to form up into their units. We haven't got all the details but Hallowell says that we can't rely on the other regiments for now."

"Has anyone sent word to Fort Ambleside? If it's as bad as you make it sound then we'll need help." Basker shook his head.

"No one is responding there as well." Aaron stepped back and leaned against the hull of a M113, rubbing his face with one hand he tried to think of something to say but couldn't.

"I know this is difficult for you Aaron but keep your head in the game we're not done yet." Someone started yelling then a flurry of agitated voices started to be heard and the three of them peered around the M113 to see a group of soldiers surrounding the wounded police officers.

"Probably should sort that out." Bianchi said and Aaron followed him as he jogged over.

"We gotta fucking kill them now!" Someone was yelling as Aaron grabbed a soldier by the arm to push him aside to see what was going on. One soldier was holding back two others that were trying to point their handguns at the wounded officers.

"What the fuck are you doing!?" Bianchi yelled out, shoving soldiers aside with Aaron following closely him until they reached the main three to pull them apart.

"Sergeant!" One man yelled as the three of them saluted.

"Garcia you've got thirty fucking seconds to tell me why you've got your sidearm out and trying to point it at these officers." Bianchi said stepping close to a shorter man who still had his handgun out.

"Sir, we were trying to deal with a threat." The second man said.

"And what threat is that, Private Millard?" Bianchi asked turning his attention to the other man.

"Sir, we noticed that a lot of these people had bite marks. Private Garcia and I reckoned that whatever is making these people go crazy is being transferred by physical contact, like bites." Bianchi stepped even closer to the young man nearly nose to nose.

"And how the hell do you know that Private? Are you some kind of Doctor? Scientist? Or are you some kind of savant? Because if you're wrong, which there's a big chance you may be wrong, you're going to be murdering these people." Bianchi said pointing towards the wounded officers but the Private didn't respond as one of the police officers started to retch and spew blood onto the sidewalk.

"Fuck, someone find Doc Mitchell!" A voice called out and Aaron rushed over as the officer fell back. Turning him over just as he vomited more dark red blood, he was startled a little when he saw blood coming from the man's eyes. The red trails were in stark contrast with his pale face.

"I-I-I don't want to die." The man said as he grabbed his sleeve the look of terror is his eyes were clear as day.

"You're not going to die, hold on." Aaron said gripping his forearm; he looked over his shoulder the gathered soldiers.

"What the fuck are you all doing standing there? Move!" He snapped but Garder who had joined them pointed at the officer.

"Sarge, he's dead." Aaron looked back at the man. His eyes were glazed over with a vacant look that no living person could ever replicate. Sighing he laid the man back down and looked at the other officers, they weren't in good shape as well. Most had started retching or vomiting blood as well; a few of the soldiers that had been standing around were comforting them.

"Vasquez take a breather and clean up, I'll handle it here." Bianchi said tapping his shoulder, he nodded his thanks and walked away. Beyond the M113s were six Humvees, four of which were built for general troop transport while the other two sported M2 Machine Guns on top.

Off to the right side of the road in a courtyard of a small plaza, Aaron could see Mitchell along with two other field medics from 1st platoon tending to the injured. Walking over he could see that most of them were getting treated for bite wounds as well. He noted with a heavy heart as well the line of white sheets that covered over two dozen bodies.

"A few stab wounds and broken bones from the rioters but the majority here got injured in the fighting with that second group." Mitchell said looking up from an arm that he had been bandaging as Aaron walked by.

"Though there's also been a startling amount of death today, I wasn't expecting to see the death of this many people." Aaron stopping to shake his head as Mitchell stood up.

"I don't think any of us were expecting today." Aaron said as the two of them walked over to a set of boxes that had several grey water canteens on them. Mitchell peeled off his gloves, tossing them to one side as he picked up a canteen and unscrewed the top.

"Hands please." Aaron blinked confused then looked down at his hands to see them covered in drying blood. Holding them out Mitchell poured cool water slowly over them slowly as Aaron scrubbed his hands together; the falling water was tinged red.

"So did you need something? I doubt you came here just for the pleasure of my company." Aaron grinned as he held up two fingers.

"Two things actually, how's Mackenzie?" Mitchell hummed a little.

"She's not in the best shape, she's running a really high fever, the bleeding from her wounds has yet to fully stop and she hasn't woken up since you brought her out."

"Wounds? She only had a few fingers missing which I know isn't something to take lightly but surely you can get that under control."

"Well she also has a bite on her calf, I'm not sure how you missed that but it doesn't matter. The point is she's lost a lot of blood and we haven't been able to stop the bleeding which is only making it worse for her."

"Then why haven't you sent her back to Fort Ambleside?" Mitchell shrugged.

"I asked Basker about that and he said that no one is responding there so we shouldn't go." Aaron hummed.

"One last thing, do you know of any viral or infectious diseases that can be transferred by bites or direct fluid contact?" Mitchell frowned.

"That's a strange question, I'm not a virologist Vasquez if you're looking for something specific than you're asking the wrong person." Aaron sighed as he shook his hands of water.

"Fair enough, thanks for answering my questions."

"I need some help here!" One of the other field medics called out and Mitchell excused himself. Aaron turned away and walked back towards the street. Ahead of him were the remaining members of his squad hanging around one of the Humvees.

"So is she gonna live?" Mendoza asked as he sat down on the curb.

"Maybe." Karelia snorted.

"That's just fucking great; we lost Shaw, Gemma, and Ayers in that building only to pull one of them out." Aaron gave her a scathing glare as Garder cleared his throat.

"Let's not forget about Hall." Garder said and none of them said anything, the only sounds they could hear were the distant crackles and pops of combat.

"I never thought this would happen when I signed up." Mendoza said after a while, Aaron sighed.

"To be honest neither did I but we've got a job to do." At that moment there was a scream and they turned their heads towards the plaza. One of the combat medics was running out of it behind her was several soldiers sprinting after her. Aaron felt a cold lump of fear fall into his stomach as three of them tackled the medic to the floor.

"Fuck." Garder whispered as she started to scream in terror and pain as the soldiers tore at her.

"Garder get on the M2, Yvette stay here with him, Cobb, and Karelia go find the rest of the platoon and get them mounted up." Aaron said first pointing at the Humvee then past the M113s.

"What about you?" Cobb asked as he turned away.

"Just go!" He shouted back as gunfire thundered from down the street. He could hear people shouting and a gunner from one of the M113's opened up, the thunderous roar of the M2 rattled his ears.

Stopping several feet away five soldiers that were now feasting on the medic, he grabbed a grenade from his vest then pulled the pin. Counting to three he threw it as hard as he could as four of them snapped their heads up at him. The grenade bounced off the face of one of them as he backed up raising his rifle, switching his rifle to semiautomatic and started firing at the soldiers.

The bullets smacked into them, each other shoving the soldiers back a little. The grenade went off in a thunderclap of sound, Aaron felt something hot graze across his left arm he stumbled back shielding his face with his arm.

Looking back up he could see that none of the soldiers that had been attacking the medic were standing up. A few of them had shredded arms or legs but the otherwise still writhed on the ground, ejecting his magazine he slammed in a new one. He noted in the back of his head that he only had three magazines left as he released the bolt and put two rounds in each body.

"Move! Move! Move!" Someone yelled nearby, Aaron turned to see Basker with his own rifle in hand waving at the armored personnel carriers as a few soldiers ran into them.

Aaron ran over to him, looking past the Lieutenant he could see that the riot police were attacking the soldiers now. A few were unmoving on the ground as others huddled over what he assumed were soldiers.

His hands went cold as he saw that down the street, more people were appearing, all of whom were sprinting straight towards them. Someone grabbed his arm and he looked to see Basker's face, pale from what he assumed was fear.

"Vasquez! For fuck sakes get moving damn it! Bianchi's dead and I can't go with you, so you're the Acting Officer of the Company." Before Aaron could say anything Basker raised his rifle and fired a trio of five round bursts at a pair of charging riot policemen. Both of them fell to the ground as Basker rolled up one sleeves to reveal his bloody forearm, the circular pattern of teeth marks were clearly visible.

"If this thing is being transmitted by bites then I can't go." Basker said and Aaron slowly nodded.

"Sarge, you've got to move, they're come!" Garders frantic voice came over the radio. Aaron started to backpedal as Basker fired at the incoming crowd. Three of the M113 gunners were firing, though the furthest one was silent. Looking over Aaron could see two soldiers pulling the gunner out from his seat.

Turning around he could see that one of the Humvee was already moving down the road, though most of them would be left behind as there wasn't enough people to drive all of them.

Aaron ran over to it as Yvette was firing her M249 in the direction of the plaza. Turning around Aaron could see three of the M113s turning and moving one by one past them. Behind them Aaron could see a crowd even larger than the one before coming towards them.

"Let's move!" Aaron called out and Yvette stood up to climb in the Humvee while Garder opened up with the M2. Closing the door behind him, he saw Mendoza in the driver seat shift gears and the Humvee moved forward. Looking around he could see Yvette and Karelia in the backseat.

"Where's Cobb?" He asked looking at Karelia but she shook her head.

"We went to go get the rest of the platoon mounted up but the riot officers were already attacking us. One of them got Cobb." Aaron didn't say anything he looked ahead, he left tired.

"Sarge, you're bleeding." Mendoza said as he drove down the road after the M113s. Aaron checked his left arm which he saw that his sleeve was ripped and he was indeed bleeding. He also noticed that he did feel a little light headed and cold as well.

Cursing slightly, he patted himself down for any medical supplies but realized he had used them all on Mackenzie.

"Here I'll take care of it Sarge, don't move." Karelia said as she pulled out a water canteen and bandages. Looking outside the window he could see the city.

Outside the night sky was illuminated by numerous fires that had started to spread around Bridgeport. He could also see a number of UH-60 Black Hawks moving over the roof tops.

"Vasquez? Are you there?" The radio set in-between the driver and passenger seat came to life.

"This is Vasquez, Daehler is that you?" He responded as he picked up the handset, Daehler was one of the other Sergeants of first platoon.

"Yea, is Basker with you?" Daehler asked.

"No, he's gone."

"Shit, Watkins and Georgina are dead as well." Aaron furrowed his brow.

"How many people are left, I've got four here with me."

"I'm in one of the M113s with my squad, there's, hold on, six of us left." Another voice spoke up over the channel.

"I've got seven people riding here."

"Who's this?" Aaron asked.

"This is Specialist Thomas Butch in Fox-3, Sir." Aaron nodded made a note to remember his name as the M113s had been given the designations of Fox one to four.

"So Specialist, you said seven?"

"Yes sir, I've talked to Fox-2 and Fox-3, between them they've only got around sixteen people."

"Alright, can you patch me through to the people riding with you?"

"Give me a moment."

"Sir?" A new voice appeared over the radio.

"Identify yourself."

"Sir, Corporal Porter, 4th Squad, 1st Platoon." Aaron rolled his eyes a little before snapping his head towards the window as gunfire roared nearby. Looking out he could see that two of the Blackhawks were hovering over an apartment building with their door gunners firing at something as they passed by. Looking forward again he raised the handset up.

"Alright then Porter, who's with you?"

"I've got two from my squad and three from 1st squad and two from your platoon."

"Who?" Aaron looked forward to see that they were still following the Armored Personnel Carriers.

"Uh, it's a Private Mellish and Sharip." He recognized them from Guttmann's fourth squad.

"Alright." Aaron reached down to adjust the controls to broadcast on the Company frequency.

"All units this is Sergeant First Class Aaron Vasquez, we'll be moving to rendezvous with the rest of the Battalion then head south. Once we're reunited with Battalion, Sergeants or Corporals take a head count and find me afterwards, Vasquez out." There was a chorus of replies but Aaron could tell that none of them had their hearts in it. He couldn't blame them, the Company got mauled and now their running with their tails between their legs.

It wouldn't be until later that he would come to realize if anything they had one of the better ordeals that night. Abel Company would take the least losses having heard the warnings first while Echo Company would be completely missing and presumed dead.

When they finally reunited with their Battalion a few miles south west from one of the major ports of the city, Aaron was able to get a full count from the other NCOs. A full Valean Infantry Company had a hundred and ten people, two rifle platoons along with a command squad.

This time they had moved out only eighty strong as a number of people were in the city and the assumption was that they couldn't make it in time due to the unrest. Now though with the rioting or panic and attack from the people they numbered less than fifty.

Dunmer's squad hadn't been the only one to get completely wiped out. First platoon was down to three half strength squads while his own platoon was in even worse shape as almost three whole squads were missing. Mellish and Sharip were the only ones from fourth squad to make it out alive.

When they made their way south, dawn was starting to breach the horizon. Upon making contact with the rest of the Regiment, Aaron could see that they weren't the only Regiment there.

The 62nd Light Infantry and elements of the 23rd Mobile Infantry were tagging along as well. It looked like a force that could easily take back at least half of the city.

In truth none of them were ready to go back in, either due to the flood of wound, escaping civilians and a disorganized command structure.

Word had come through the grape vine that Fort Ambleside had fallen. No one was sure how that happened but a skeleton squadron from the 17th Air Guard was the last to leave the base. They described it as people turning on it each in an instant, the mass confusion only helped more of the undead, or zombies as everyone was calling them, to get in.

It wouldn't be until around ten in the morning that the orders for the complete withdrawal would be issued to all of the Valean Army units. The soldier reacted in two general extremes when he told them about this, some wanted to go back in and clear the city out. Others would more than just glad to leave the nightmare city.

When they learned about what was happening around the nation. Those smiles of relief both open and internal would be dashed.

* * *

 **Present…**

"So we left Bridgeport and headed north to Nysa but by the time we got there it was already falling. We helped contain the populace for a little while as we tried to sort out those that were infected and clean at the same time but things slipped out of our control too fast. Half of the stationed Army units were unresponsive while the other half was requesting support as they were either being bogged down by civilian traffic or overwhelmed by the undead. So we pulled out from there as well by that time Vale was being abandoned as well. We could have gone to Beacon but were received orders to evacuate the smaller towns and bring them either to Avalon or Mountain Glenn. So here we are patrolling the mountains for either the undead or people like you with orders to bring you back to the city. " No one said anything as they sat there looking at the Sergeant, Jaune rubbed his chin softly as he thought back to what Roman said about safe cities.

"So Nysa fell?" He asked the first to break the silence, the older man nodded.

"Sadly yes, did you know anyone there?" Jaune shook his head.

"No, I was just thinking is all." In the corner of his eye, he could see the others glancing or openly staring at him.

"So what now?" Qrow asked next.

"Simple, you pack up your things and we'll escort you to Mountain Glenn. Once there the medics will examine you. You know, as a formal thing, and then you'll be allowed to stay within the city." Weiss frowned.

"That's it? Once you see we're all fine, we'll be allowed to roam freely in the city?" Aaron scratched his face a little.

"Well, no I guess not roam freely. Martial Law is still in effect Ms. Schnee."

"What about living quarters? Has the Army set up areas for people to stay in for the time being?" Weiss pressed again.

"Yes and no." Mina frowned.

"Meaning?"

"Well the thing is, before we arrived in Mountain Glenn, there had been an infestation of sorts in the city. I don't know the details but a lot of people died or left in the beginning hours. However with the sudden absence of a lot of the city's residents, it was decided that certain buildings would be opened up to house the incoming flow of survivors."

"So there may be a chance we'll be housed in someone else's home?" Blake asked now.

"I suppose. Look I don't actually know these details you're probably going to ask me; in fact there are a lot of details I just can't answer as I don't know what I don't need to know. All I know is that I'm to take you to Mountain Glenn."

"Will we get to keep our supplies?" Ruby asked and the Sergeant tilted his head a little.

"Maybe? I heard that they're planning on putting together civilian groups as auxiliaries to the main Army but I can't say for sure." Jaune looked at the others; none of them looked pretty sure themselves.

"Qrow, what do you think?" He asked.

"I say we go it's better than staying out here bleeding our supplies in the mountains." Mina nodded.

"He's right little bro, even after our deal with Roman we still don't have a large amount of supplies. Plus if we lose another car or someone gets seriously injured then we'll be in deeper trouble."

"Also if we go with them then this will allow us access to information that we haven't had before." Weiss pointed out, Jaune nodded as he scratched the back of his head thinking.

"So is everyone good with this?" He asked looking at the others who had yet to offer their opinion.

"I'm with you Jaune." Pyrrha said with a smile.

"So are we." Yang spoke up next as she dragged Ruby into a headlock, the younger girl flailing to get out of her grip.

"Well we don't really have a choice." Blake said with an even face while Sun beamed him a smile.

"She's into the plan and so am I." Jaune looked over to Ren and Nora.

"Come on Jaune Jaune, do you really think I'd refuse the chance of finding a kitchen to put Ren in?" The bubbly orange hair girl said gesturing with her thumb to the magenta eyed teen who simply nodded. Jaune turned to look at the Army Sergeant.

"Alright, we'll come with you."

* * *

 **Later…**

Jaune was double checking the duffel bags to make sure everything was in them. Looking up briefly he could see the soldiers helpings pack up stuff as well.

There seemed to be a change in the air, earlier, if he had to guess he would say that there was an undercurrent of gloom amongst the group. He had seen it in their faces and their interactions, a sluggishness that spoke of the belief that the morning wasn't to be welcomed.

He understood that feeling all too well but he had to keep it in check. It wasn't a smart thing to do the more he thought about it but he didn't want to burden anyone else with his fears. Sure Pyrrha and Ren wanted him to be open about his feelings but he wasn't sure how to broach the topic.

Now he felt that a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, whether or not it was going to be replaced he wasn't sure.

All that mattered was getting them inside the city limits of Mountain Glenn, especially if the Army was holding out there.

Speaking of which he thought about the Quartermaster, Roman Torchwick, he had told Jaune that Nysa was in fact safe. Now though it seems that information was acutely false, whether or not the fall of Nysa was recent or not, it didn't matter. Had Jaune actually taken them there based on Roman's information then they would all be dead.

Had Roman been trying to trick him?

What would he gain from that though? If they get killed in a city infested with zombies that would make getting their supplies to more dangerous than it's worth. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose; a dull headache was starting to brew in his head.

"You okay?" A voice asked and he looked up to see Weiss standing beside him holding a duffel bag.

"I'm just thinking." Jaune swore he could see the traces of a smile touch her face.

"I'm sure you are Jaune, you looked like you were going to be sick." Jaune chuckled as he zipped up the duffel bag filled with tarps. Standing up he slung it over his shoulder and was about to head to the Grand Cherokee when he turned around.

"Hey Weiss, can I ask you something?" The pale girl turned to look at him.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Do you remember how Roman told us about safe areas?" She nodded slowly.

"Yea?"

"Do you remember them?" She frowned a little.

"Did you really forget?" Jaune gestured with his hand in a circular motion.

"Just, indulge me, please?" She sighed.

"Roman said that Beacon University, Avalon, Mountain Glenn and Nysa were safe."

"Now do you remember what Aaron just told us?" She frowned confused but he could quickly see it dawn on her.

"He lied." Jaune nodded.

"Thanks what's bothering me, I don't know he was lying on purpose or just gave us bad information." Weiss's face hardened.

"Of course he lied to us; the slimy sleaze ball wanted our supplies."

"I know but he would have known that we suspected him, so if he really gave us bad information on Nysa it wouldn't do him good. If we got there before he could catch us then it would be a waste of supplies as he wouldn't dare risk going into a zombie infested city to get our supplies plus he'd had wasted supplies just following us."

"Then he would have caught us beforehand." Qrow's voice broke in from behind.

"It wouldn't be worth the risk to him, he knows we're armed."

"Yes but he was also the one to arm us, so he'd know what we would be packing. Plus I doubt we would find anything that could take down that Humvee before it destroyed or crippled at least two vehicles." Jaune sighed.

"All we're doing now is speculating, so there's no use in talking about this since we'll probably never see the guy again." Weiss said before walking away, Jaune looked at Qrow.

"What do you think?" Qrow shrugged.

"The Schnee is right, no point in talking about this so let's just get out of here." Qrow turned to walk back to the truck. Jaune picked up the duffel bags and walked them over to Sun who stood next to the Grand Cherokee. Packing everything away Jaune returned to the Mustang where Yang was sitting in the driver seat.

"So we good to go?" She asked as he sat in the passenger seat.

"Yea, we'll take the rear again. Just have to wait till the soldiers tell us to start moving, it seems they've got a couple of Humvees parked on the side of the road." Yang hummed a little.

"I'm just curious on how they found us." Jaune sighed loudly.

"What?! I'm just curious!" Yang said loudly as Jaune leaned back putting an arm over his eyes.

"I know, I'm just tired Yang. All this speculation and trying to piece clues together to find out something is killing my brain." She didn't say anything at first and a small part of him hoped he didn't offend her or anything.

"Sounds like you need some stress relief." Something in her voice made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

"I guess I could even give you a _hand_ in releasing that _pent up_ feeling." Jaune removed his arm to see the smile on Yang's face as she looked at him.

"So, how about it?"

"No."

* * *

 **A Few hours Later…**

Jaune woke up with a sudden jolt as the Mustang came to a halt. Looking around he could see Yang staring ahead before looking at him.

"Good morning sleepy head." Blinking he looked up at the passenger window and could see that it was indeed starting to brighten up outside.

"Are we there?" He asked as he sat up. As he did, Jaune got his answer.

About a mile out from where they were he could see a military blockade. At least six Humvees and four large armored personnel carriers were parked to either side of the road.

Dozens of people and heavy lifting machines dug up the ground or nearby forest. Soldiers filled sandbags that they placed at the far side of the trenches they made. While teams of two unfurled bundles of razor wire then dumped into the trenches.

Concrete barriers narrowed the road down enough that only one car could pass through at a time. Soldier manned portable grenade launcher systems and M2 Machine guns behind the walls of sandbags or concrete barriers.

Beyond that the road curved upward again and Jaune could see lines of white tents. People teemed around them and there was even a squared off section with a Blackhawk resting quietly on the dirt.

"Those must be the examination areas that Aaron mentioned." Jaune muttered aloud.

"I won't lie I'm not exactly looking forward to having a bunch of strangers peek at my body." Yang said as she put the Mustang into park. Ahead of them was one of the two Humvees, Aaron was standing outside of it writing something on a clipboard while two soldiers stood nearby.

"I'm sure they'll have a woman to check on you girls while men check on us." Jaune said as Yang sighed.

"To be fair I wouldn't mind you checking me out." This time it was Jaune's turn to sigh, the entire drive there Yang had been hitting on him. He wasn't sure if she was teasing or if she really meant what she was saying, glancing over at her he could see that she didn't have a smile on but a more thoughtful look.

"Looks like we can go in." Yang said as Jaune looked to see one of the soldiers waving them in.

Jaune watched as they slowly drove by dozens of professionally trained soldiers with weapons and even armored vehicles. Yet he couldn't help but shake the unease that was beginning to grow in his stomach.

A sickening feeling that something should go wrong at any second but he knew that was crazy. Why something bad happen but he immediately should rebuked himself at dismissing that possibility. No plan, no matter how well it's made, was foolproof.

The Mustang pulled to the side of the road and a soldier beckoned them to get out. Stepping out Jaune the acrid smell of smoke assaulted his nose, the loud bustle of people and machines droned out the steady stillness of nature that Jaune had grown accustomed too.

"Alright my name is Sergeant Talbor; I'll be in charge of your examination, first strip off any weapons and leave them in your vehicle. If you have any pair of clean clothes on you, now would be the time to hand them over." The soldier said aloud as the group got together.

"Why?" Neptune asked.

"Standard Bio-Chemical safety procedures in events like this, now please do as I ask." The soldier said simply and everyone moved back to drop off their gear. Jaune fished around and finally found a change of clothes, though they didn't have any clothes for Mina, Qrow, Karen, Ren, Nora, Ruby and Weiss.

Closing the door of the Mustang Jaune walked back to the soldier. The air felt strange to his body which was getting very used to the weight and feel of the vest around his torso. It almost was like walking outside and realizing one didn't have a shirt on. It was something you needed to have on.

"Alright then, men will follow me and women will follow Corporal Tanaka." The sergeant said gesturing to a short woman, each lead their respect group to white tents. Then they had them go through the process of stripping down, bathing in soap, being blasted with water which then repeated three times.

Afterwards they were forced to have their arms and legs spread while soldiers in white hazmat suits checked them by hand for any injuries. Soon they were given the all clear and directed to a room to change into.

"Man, I've got nothing to be ashamed of but it felt kind of weird having another man searching places where even I can't see without a mirror at least." Neptune said as he pulled a grey shirt on.

"How do you know you can't see them without a mirror?" Sun said as he snickered behind Neptune as he slipped a white shirt on.

"Shut up!" Neptune called out as he threw a used towel at the back of Sun's head. Jaune sighed as the two fought in the back ground as he pulled a black short sleeve shirt over his head. It felt nice wearing new clothes but it was also his last pair as the Army had apparently burned their other clothes and shoes.

"Fucking boots, I hate them." Qrow mumbled as he tied up a pair of black boots.

"It could be worse; they could have not given us anything." Ren said as he finished tying up his own boots.

"If that's what you call a bright side then I've no hope for you." Qrow said, Ren chuckled as he pulled the tent flap aside and left. Jaune stood up next, the boots felt a little weird but his grey cargo pants and black shirt were comfortable enough that it was fine.

Heading outside he squinted a little as the sun shone down on them. The cool but acrid air burned a little in his chest, the recent rainfall having no effect on the area.

"Alright then, let's get this show on the road." Sun called out from behind as he, Neptune and Qrow emerged from the tent.

"Alright I'll take you over to the ladies and from there I'll hand you off to some pencil pushers." Sergeant Talbor said from nearby, Jaune turned to see him leaning against the side of a Humvee.

"Pencil pushers?" Jaune asked.

"He means beaurcraut, don't you Talbor?" Qrow growled from nearby, the Sergeant smiled.

"I see you're no stranger to them."

"Yea the legal arm of the Law is a pain in the ass but I hate to see what it's like on your end." The two men started to talk amongst one another as Talbor lead them across the road. Pyrrha and the others had also finished dressing, though Yang and Weiss were busy combing their hair.

"It feels amazing to be clean again." Weiss was saying when they walked close to them.

"Sup Jaune." Nora called out, she wore a pink shirt and blue jeans that had belong to his younger sister Claire, thinking about her made the smile on his face die away. Nora looked at him knowingly and walked up to him, leaning up on her toes she gestured for him to come closer. Jaune leaned down not sure what to expect but he was surprised to feel her hand running through his hair as she rubbed the top of his head.

"Uh, Nora, what are you doing?" Jaune asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry you're hair just looks so fluffy when it's damp. Ren's hair never really changes, which is fine since it's easy to braid." Nora started to say, there was a slap and Jaune looked in the corner of his eye to see Ren face palming himself.

"Huh, she's right, Ren has pretty long hair. You could totally give him a braid." Yang muttered aloud.

"True but Jaune looks better in a dress." Mina chimed in and this time Jaune covered his eyes as Mina and Helena started to recount the times they had him put on a dress.

"Well, nice to see you're all having fun." Sergeant Talbor said as he and Qrow joined them. The group turned to look at him.

"Alright I've gotten the result and you're all clean, so congratulations you'll be allowed into Mountain Glenn. Now then we've noticed that you're all carrying some weapons, so you may not know this but the decision to have civilian groups act as auxiliaries is something we're considering. So I'm willing to go and add your names as candidates to act as an auxiliary unit. However I feel that it would be best to allow you all to discuss amongst yourselves on whether or not you'd want to do it." Jaune rubbed his chin.

"What's in it for us?" He asked and the Sergeant raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean is there something we gain if we become auxiliaries? Like any guarantees?" The Sergeant nodded.

"Actually yes, for one the Army will find you someplace to decent to billet in Mountain Glenn until we're ready to start moving out completely. You'll be given a secondary status in terms of supply requisition, while the of course regular Army units are given primary status. Standard Civilians are given tertiary status on the list of priorities." Jaune nodded.

"What's that you said about moving out completely?" Pyrrha asked and the man looked towards her.

"In essence the current plan is to strengthen our position here, once that's done we'll start sending Regiments out to do primary sweeps to cleanse and fight the undead. Once the major fighting is over and no major threat remains you'll come in afterwards to conduct additional cleaning sweeps while the Army pushes on."

"Are all auxiliary units going to be following the Army?" Jaune asked but the Sergeant shook his head.

"No, there will be some that act as construction workers, scouts, and other jobs that will be needed to repair or strengthen the areas we retake."

"How bad is it out there?" Helena asked the Sergeant went quiet as everyone stood around waiting for answer.

"It's…not great, we've lost a lot of land and cities. The Army is missing or lost at least a third of its manpower before this all start then we took some serious hits in places like Nysa, Vale, Bridgeport, Hereford, and Cold Lake just to name a few. As for the exact count of the population, well that's a different story." Jaune nodded.

"Thanks, we'll discuss it amongst ourselves then give you an answer." The man nodded.

"Well even then it's still not decided on what sort of duty you'll be given let alone allowed." Jaune nodded.

"Fair enough, so can we keep out stuff?" The sergeant hummed as he scratched his cheek.

"I believe so yea, though I wouldn't expect you to be able to stock up on firearms while you're here, we're pooling every stray bullet either for the Military or Police." The clapped his hands together.

"Alright then, I suppose you should all be on your way now." Talbor turned as another soldier jogged up to him and Jaune watched as they turned away to talk. He exchanged looks with Qrow and his sister before Talbor turned back around.

"Uh, Ms. Schnee, if you'd like I can also direct you to the Mayor's office." Weiss frowned.

"What? Why?" Talbor looked surprised.

"Did no one tell you?" Weiss shook her head as she looked at the others who were just as confused.

"Tell me what?"

"You're sister is here."

* * *

 **Brace for impact the Elder Schnee is here.**

 **Now brace for what impact you may be thinking, well that's obvious isn't it?**

 **Anyways be on the lookout for a new Chapter this weekend, hopefully you'll like it otherwise I might just have to kill myself if it fails then rewrite it from the ground up again.**

 **So let me know what you guys think of this chapter or the story so far. Is there anything you like or dislike or wish/want to see, feel free to write your thoughts down or give a review, hell you can even send me a PM to talk about it.**

 **Till Next Time!**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Jaune opened the door and peered inside but it was dark so he couldn't see anything. Stepping inside, he could detect the faint smell of cherries but ignored it as a set of lights in the ceiling turned on. Turning around he could see Helena's hand on the light switch.

"Holy crap Jaune, hurry up, this stuff is heavy." His younger sister complained and Jaune sighed as he set his bags on the floor.

"Fine, fine, it's not like you've got a lot of stuff anyways." Jaune said as he took the two duffel bags off Helena. Sun, Pyrrha and the others appeared behind her as she stepped through the threshold.

"But I'm a delicate flower Jaune, so obviously I shouldn't be carrying heavy items." Helena said as she put her hands on her hips.

"Yea Jaune, how could you do such a terrible thing to this beautiful flower?" Nora chimed in with a cheeky grin.

"I don't want to hear that from you Nora, you can bench twice my weight." The orange hair girl puffed out her cheeks.

"What? Can't I want to be treated like a princess once in a while?"

"I'm pretty sure that job belongs to Ren." Yang called out as the magenta eyed teen walked through the door. Nora immediately sprang over to him and began to talk rapidly but Jaune just tuned it out.

"It's nice that they gave us a place to stay." Karen said as she sat down on a couch. They had been given a large apartment room for them to stay in after they were further processed by the Military in Mountain Glenn.

Had Jaune not mentioned about wanting to sign up to the processing officer, he suspected they might have been given a shabbier place. Like the various groups of tents they have seen while driving through the city.

Mountain Glenn was supposed to have a population of nearly three million but to Jaune it felt as if there was nearly twice that. Though that wasn't strictly true as many of the buildings were in fact empty while the Police, which had been federalized, along with Army units made sure they were clean and safe.

What little information that Jaune had been able to gather from the processing officers who they had seen after getting examined for infection there was at least five Army Divisions worth of soldiers holding out in the city. Along with them there were at least two thousand Mountain Glenn police officers but with the influx of displaced officers of other cities, there were now at least four and a half thousand.

Jaune returned his gaze to the room he was standing in. He could see that there was a living room, a full kitchen, five bedrooms, and a bathroom. Plus it was furbished very well, though in the corner of Jaune's eye he could see a bookcase that held several picture frames.

He remembered that this was once someone's home, someone who could right now be dead along with their loved ones. Or could they be amongst the ranks of the undead that now plagued the land, stalking and killing the living?

"Jaune?" Someone asked from next to him and he turned to look at Pyrrha, concern evident in her eyes.

"Oh, I'm sorry Pyrrha, did you need something?" She shook her head.

"I just saw you blanking out there, what's wrong?" Pyrrha followed where his gaze had been lingering and her features softened a little.

"It's strange isn't it?" Jaune nodded as he set the duffel bags he had taken from Helena on a coffee table.

"What is?" She didn't look at him as she walked towards the bookcase and picked up one of the pictures.

"I just think it's strange that we're going to be living in someone else's home." Jaune smiled a little making Pyrrha frown in confusion, seeing her expression he couldn't help but start laughing a little.

"I'm sorry; it's not you I was just thinking that same thing so it made me laugh." Pyrrha's face changed into a smile and Jaune couldn't help but think how nice it looked.

"So is that everything?" Mina called out and Jaune turned to look at her.

"Still need to go pick up the rest of the food then find a place to park our vehicles for now." Jaune noted as he picked the duffel bags off the coffee table and walked them over to the kitchen area where the rest of the stuff was being placed.

"Actually, I need someone to drive me to the Mayor's Office." Weiss called out.

"What for?" Ruby asked as she headed towards one of the rooms, the white hair girl seemed to fidget a little.

"I have to go see my sister, they told me she was there."

"Want me to go with you?" Neptune asked but surprisingly enough she shook her head.

"That's alright Nep; you can stay and relax here. I was thinking it would be best if Jaune went with me." Neptune frowned as he looked at Jaune.

"Me?" Jaune asked pointing to himself, Weiss nodded.

"Yea, I figured it would be best if the group leader comes with me plus I'll need an escort." Jaune rubbed his chin as he looked at the others.

"I guess I can come, but I'll need to help the others clear the vehicles. Yang can I use the Mustang when we're done?" The blonde hair girl fished out the keys from her pants and tossed it to him.

"Now you kids better be back by ten and remember to use a condom." Yang said with a smile, everyone just rolled their eyes. All of them were used to the bizarre comments or jokes she made.

"Yang, that wasn't even remotely funny." Ruby called out from one of the rooms.

"Well give me better material to work with." Yang complained as she crossed her arms indignantly.

"How about just stop making bad jokes and puns." Karen pointed out.

"I'll have you know that I'm the funniest person amongst us." She replied causing everyone to laugh a little.

"See, I told you." Yang said with a grin but Blake put her hand on Yang's shoulder.

"Please stop." Jaune walked over to one of the rooms and opened the door to look inside. The room was dark so he ran a hand over the wall to his right and found a light switch then flicked it up.

The room brightened and Jaune saw there was a bed in the far corner with a desk next to it and a window with its blinds down. A dresser was also at the foot of the bed but he noticed that it had most of its contents missing as the drawers were pulled out and upside down on the floor.

Posters of punk rock bands and well-drawn images of people or sceneries were pinned to the wall. However lived in here must have been an artist Jaune thought to himself.

He also noted college textbooks and papers on the floor next to the desk. Stepping into the room, he walked over and picked up one.

It looked like an outline for an essay of some old play but Jaune couldn't help but notice that in the margins was a note. Whoever had written it obviously had been curious about the events leading up to the zombie outbreak as it was a reminder to email her cousin in Vacuo.

"Are you thinking of picking this room to stay in?" Ren asked from behind and Jaune jumped a little, fumbling to catch the paper as he had let it go.

"Fuck you startled me there." Ren crossed his arms a smile amused smile on his face.

"I noticed." Before Jaune could say anything police sirens started to go off outside that Jaune was immediately at the only window in the room, pulling the blinds down to check. Three police SUVs were driving down the road past the building.

"A little jumpy there?" Ren asked chuckling from behind as Jaune realized that he had his Glock in hand. He tucked it away as a smile split his face and before long he was laughing along with him but it quickly died away.

"Honestly, I do feel a little jumpy." Ren tilted his head a little.

"What's up?" Jaune shrugged.

"I don't know I just feel like we should still be moving but I know this is where I want us to be. I guess I just need some time to unwind like the rest of us." Ren nodded.

"I know what you mean man, you might not have noticed it but the others have been pretty tense lately as well."

"Really?"

"Yea I think it started when we first got to the mountains, I guess we were expecting to be very disappointed when we finally reached Mountain Glenn but now we're in a city that's in human hands again so everyone is on eggshells at the idea of zombies coming here as well." Jaune rubbed his chin.

"I guess I never looked at it like that." Ren patted Jaune's arm.

"Don't worry about it man." Jaune nodded towards the door.

"Everyone else pick out a room?" Ren nodded.

"Qrow's got the living room while Mina and Mina have one room. Me, Nora, Weiss, Neptune, Blake and Sun all have our rooms as well. Ruby and Helena are sharing a room as well."

"You haven't mentioned Pyrrha or Yang." Ren didn't say anything instead he seemed to be examining his foot.

"I'm not going to like this, am I?" Ren shrugged.

"I don't know Jaune, when have you liked anything?" Jaune scratched the back of his head.

"You got a point there. So let me guess, they're trying to come bunk with me but now they're vying for who gets that position?" Ren shrugged.

"This is getting a bit much isn't it?" Jaune sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Indeed it is." He walked out of the room; much to his surprise he could see Yang and Pyrrha having an arm wrestling contest.

"What the hell are you doing?" He asked and the two girls looked at him though he did note that neither of them let go of each other's hands.

"This? This is just a friendly little competition Jaune, so nothing to see here." Yang said with a strained smile.

"Yes, a little competition." Pyrrha said with an easy smile, Jaune sighed as he turned to look at Weiss who was sitting at the kitchen table going through the few duffel bags that they had left.

"Come on Weiss, we'll head out now if you want." The white hair girl nodded as she stood up and smooth down her clothes, Jaune looked at Qrow who was laying down already on one of the couches.

"Qrow, you're gonna get the rest of the boxes right?" The older man held a thumb up from where he laid and the two of them headed out the door but Jaune turned around to look at Pyrrha and Yang.

"Oh by the way, I'll be sleeping on one of the couches as well; you two can have that room over there." Jaune said pointing at the room he had been in then left, not seeing their reactions.

Yang and Pyrrha sat still with their hands still holding as they watched the closed door, Yang sighed.

"Damn it."

* * *

 **Later…**

Jaune pulled the Mustang up to the sidewalk that was opposite of Mountain Glenn's city government building. Immediately he noticed the large presence of armed personnel on the ground.

If he had to make a rough guess there was at least thirty officers in black tactical gear with accompanying police vehicles that stood vigilant on the front lawn. Jaune felt suddenly naked as Weiss had forced him to keep his vest in the trunk of the Mustang.

Though he had been able to persuade her on keep his Glock, looking at the armed officers with submachine guns, assault rifles, and shotguns. He realized how foolish he was being at coming with a weapon.

"Are you coming?" Weiss asked and Jaune turned to see her with her hand on the door handle, a puzzle expression on her face. A small part of his mind noted that this was one of those few times that she gave him an expression that wasn't of annoyance.

"Yea, I'm just, scoping out the area." Weiss hummed.

"I see what you mean, I suppose it's because this is the city's brain center. If this fell either to unruly citizens or the undead then the city is as good as lost." Weiss stated as they both exited the Mustang.

"True but it makes you wonder how much we're dependent on the people that are in that building to run the cities. Sure federal employees such as the police and others are the ones we see day to day but can one really exist without the other?"

"People seem to think that the two aren't connected sometimes but that isn't strictly true. While people can make their own police or firefighting force it's much more effective for a separate body to govern that sort of activity for the mass of the people. It's why people automatically start gravitating towards a leader or establishing a leadership. They don't or aren't able to govern themselves as effect as a third party could." Weiss said as they crossed the street.

"Fair enough but at the same time people are always necessary to be involved whether that's just to be aware of what's going on. If not the chance of abuse in power is increased, any form of unchecked leadership easily puts them on a path to dictatorship."

"I'm not saying that there shouldn't be accountability I just think it's foolish to demand watching over their shoulders when it does nothing but put unnecessary pressure on them." Weiss said as they reached the cement path towards the front of the building. Two officers stepped out in front of them, one of them held their hand up.

"State your business." The officer called out, Jaune couldn't help but feel nervous as several more were now glancing at them and slowly moving towards them.

"My name is Weiss Schnee; I'm here to see my sister." Weiss said as she stepped ahead of Jaune, the officer nodded before looking at him.

"And you?"

"He's with me." Weiss broke in.

"Also I'm here to ask about this auxiliary position that I heard about." The officer nodded a small smile spread across his face.

"You look a little young; shouldn't you be with your family?" Jaune could practically sense Weiss stiffen as he said nothing at first before a smile grew on his face.

"Well I suppose if I died also then I might be able to spend time with them." He could see both of the officers stiffen now as well, the one that had spoken frowned.

"Hey, look kid."

"It's fine." Jaune cut him off and the officers stepped aside.

"Go on in then." The two of them continued past them, Weiss didn't say anything as she walked side by side with them, as they reached the steps leading up to the building she finally spoke up.

"Jaune, are you okay?" She asked and did something surprising, she grabbed his right arm. Looking towards her now, he saw that she was raising his arm so that his hand was shaking, he pulled it away.

"I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm. Fine." Jaune instantly felt bad as Weiss looked away from him, he reached out and gripped the door handle of the building. Holding it open, he let Weiss head in first; she didn't meet his eyes as she walked past.

"God damn it." Jaune mumbled to himself as he followed her.

The interior of the building was bustling with movement; people were walking back and forth, shouting or calling out for each other. Officers in tactical gear lined the walls, their hands on their weapons and their fingers not far from the trigger. Jaune looked around briefly to see Weiss waving him over towards the front desk.

"I already told her why you're here." Weiss said as he joined her, he nodded as he looked at the receptionist, a frazzled looking woman.

"Yes, yes, Ms. Schnee you may go on ahead, your sister is currently in the Mayor's office." The two of them nodded.

"So should I wait here until you're done with your sister?" Jaune asked looking towards Weiss.

"Actually, I was thinking, can you come with me when I see my sister?" Jaune tilted his head a little confused.

"What for?" Weiss sighed.

"Will you come or not?" Jaune nodded and Weiss smiled.

"Good." The two of them headed up the nearest set of stairs, Jaune could see that most of the people looked like they hadn't gotten an ounce of sleep in the day few days. Were things really that bad that it put the city in such a predicament?

As they reached the second floor they could now see people in military uniforms moving about. A few of the offices were also occupied by soldiers as well Jaune caught glimpses of radio sets and a map of what he assumed was Mountain Glenn or the surrounding areas.

"Well, here we are." Weiss said as she stopped in front of a double set of wooden doors, two soldiers stood to either side facing forward. Neither of them made any movement nor did they look at them.

"So?" Jaune asked as Weiss made no movement to open the door.

"Give me a moment." She said without looking at him then took a deep breath and opened the door. Standing in the middle of the room looking towards them was a tall pale woman with snow white hair. She wore a black business suit and high heels, she was looking at them with a cold expression on her face that sent a shiver down Jaune's back.

"Took your time."

* * *

 **Elsewhere…**

"I'm so god damn bored." Sun grumbled from the floor of the living room.

"Then you should have gone with Neptune." Blake spoke up from the couch where was browsing the backs of books that she had found in the apartment.

"Where did Neptune say he was going anyways?" Helena asked.

"I don't know, he said something about checking the neighborhood out." Sun replied.

"Why?"

"I don't know, maybe he's curious or maybe he's just blowing off some steam since Weiss didn't let him tag along."

"Actually now that you bring it up, is something going on between the two of them?" Karen asked from the kitchen area.

"What do you mean?" Blake asked.

"Haven't you noticed how Neptune's been acting every time he sees Weiss talking with Jaune?" Blake set down her book.

"What are you suggesting?" This drew the attention of everyone in the room.

"I mean come on, there's obviously something going on there, maybe it's one sided but there's something."

"So Neptune's being jealous? That's so cute." Yang said with a small laugh.

"This isn't funny Yang." Blake said heatedly.

"Okay, okay, calm down Blakely, you make it sound like Neptune and Weiss's relationship is going to end. That's never going to happen Weiss likes him far too much and Neptune is head over heels for her."

"I guess." Blake said and Yang sat down unceremoniously next to the black hair girl, wrapping an arm around her neck.

"See? There's to worry about."

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

"Hello Winter." Weiss said with a small curtsey, Jaune gave a small wave and kept silent with a straight face.

"Well Weiss, what held you up for so long? By my reckoning you should have been here almost an hour ago." Weiss straightened up as she gave a stiff smile.

"I was just with my group making sure we got all of our belongings into our new place to stay." The elder Schnee clicked her tongue.

"Oh come now Weiss, you know you didn't have to do that. You could have come to me and I would have put you in one of my spare rooms." Weiss shook her head as she moved more into the room to stand closer to her sister.

"There's no need sister, I like being with my friends plus I wouldn't want to get in your way."

"It's no trouble for me Weiss, now tell me. How are you holding up?" Winter asked as she stepped forward to grasp her arms, Jaune couldn't help but notice the small smile in her eyes.

"I'm fine, a little sore from all of the driving." She was interrupted when Winter slapped her forehead.

"Ow!" Weiss complained as she pressed a hand to her forehead.

"Fool, I was asking, how are you dealing with the dead returning and the fall of Vale? If memory serves me correctly you were at your school when things finally broke." Weiss nodded as she rubbed her forehead.

"Indeed it was difficult, I saw more than a few people getting killed and feared for my life almost every second. However I have my friends to thank dearly for helping to keep me alive, which is also why I plan on sticking with them. I want to repay them for the kindness they've shown me as I'm not the best survivalist or fighter but I can learn things that can help them." Winter held up a hand stopping Weiss then looked towards Jaune.

"I assume you're one of those people, otherwise you wouldn't be here. For that I thank you." Winter said and Jaune nodded with a small smile on his face.

"It's not a problem Ms. Schnee, if anything I guess it's kind of my own way of apologizing for being such a pain." Winter tilted her head.

"What do you mean?" Jaune blanched as he saw Weiss giving him a cold look.

"Uh, well, I sort of, annoyed her, a lot when we were in, uh, freshman year." Winter cupped her chin as she stepped forward to examine him.

"Hmmm, pale, tall, messy blonde hair, Sun?" She asked but Jaune give a little nervous chuckle as he shook his head.

"No Ms. Schnee, my name's Jaune Arc." Her face flattened to a cold gaze, Jaune felt the urge to walk back out the door and never look back.

"Weiss, isn't this the pest that you told me about that constantly harassed you? Should I call for someone to toss him in some chains?"

"No!" Weiss came around appearing in Jaune's vision again from behind Winter, panic briefly flashing over her face.

"He's fine Winter, he apologized and even let me stay at his house that first day, he helped me despite most of his family getting killed." Winter stepped back nodding almost imperceptibly towards Weiss then looked at him again, her cold gaze fixing on him.

"I see." She said looking him up and down before looking at Weiss.

"So who else is with you?"

"There's Yang, Ruby, Blake, Sun, Neptune, two of Jaune's sisters, along with another group of teens whose names are Lie Ren, Nora Valkyrie and Pyrrha Nikos. There's also a police officer named Karen along with Ruby and Yang's uncle, Qrow Branwen." Jaune could have sworn he saw Winter's eye twitch violently at Qrow's name.

"Interesting company you have there, say you're still not seeing that Neptune boy, are you?" Weiss smiled.

"I'm still seeing him yes." Winter snorted unladylike.

"So Jaune Arc, what brings you here with my sister? Maybe I can help you." Jaune coughed into his fist before lowering his arm.

"I just came here to discuss about our group joining as Auxiliaries to the Valean Army." Winter raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"Really now? I would have thought that you and the others would stay here where it's safer." Jaune shrugged.

"Not all of us would be fighting, I plan on having my younger sister, Ruby, Blake, and even Weiss stay back. Though of course I can't force most of their decisions save for my own sister, even then she might just castrate me." Winter hummed in a manner that Jaune assumed was amusement.

"I see this one indeed is very smart." Winter gestured to one of the chairs in the room.

"Please sit, let's talk and afterwards I'll find the Senator's staff and discuss with them about giving you that Auxiliary status."

"Senator? What happened to the Mayor?" Winter looked down at him then at Weiss.

"Did no one tell you?" The two of them shook their head.

"Well the Mayor of Mountain Glenn died in the fighting when the undead overran his motorcade when it tried to escape. However a Valean Senator arrived a few days ago and took control as the leading Government Representative. Personally I wish Atlas would hurry up and take command of the situation as I don't really like the man." Jaune tilted his head.

"Speaking of which, what is the news coming out of Atlas about this, hell what's Mistral got going on?" Winter tapped her lip with a finger in thought.

"Well Atlas immediately shut down its borders; all personnel from incoming flights were immediately quarantined while the Military went on full alert. They also had the few oversea Military bases here in Vale go on full lockdown. With the warning that they'll fire upon anyone that comes too close without authorization. They're not letting anyone in but from what I've heard is that they're starting to form multiple plans to tackle the situation here in Vale; they've started off by beginning reconnaissance of the major cities, including Mountain Glenn, along with the surrounding country side during that they should start airlifting supplies to places like Beacon University and here ." Jaune rubbed his chin.

"So the Valean Army really is holding out at Beacon?" Winter nodded.

"Indeed, did you hear anything about it?" Jaune glanced at Weiss before looking back at her.

"Yea we heard from other survivors that the Army had been holding out here, Nysa, Beacon, and Avalon." Winter nodded.

"Well that's some old information since Nysa fell a while back and Avalon isn't handling itself so well."

"How so?"

"Half of the city isn't secure, reports are coming in of spontaneous waves of infections that cripple the local forces holding out there each time but they've yet to get a hold of the sources of the infections." Winter sat down on a chair and folded her right leg over her left, Jaune kept his face straight at the sight of the long pale legs.

"I'd hate for that to happen here, the mountain roads and terrain would make escape difficult." Jaune mused aloud.

"Already thinking about leaving?" Winter asked but Jaune shook his head.

"It's not that I want to leave, I just feel it would be important to have contingency plans if, let's say, the dead breach the Army defensive line or rebellion takes root." Winter tilted her head.

"Rebellion?" Jaune nodded.

"Yes, we've seen firsthand that there are people out there that are more than willing to kill others for their own apparent benefit, right Weiss?" Jaune asked addressing the last part to the younger Schnee girl who nodded.

"He's right; in fact we nearly got into a fight with a group like that." For the first time since they started talking, Jaune could see open surprise on Winter's face.

"Oddly enough, their leader really wanted Jaune." Weiss said looking towards him but Jaune looked ahead, keeping his focus on the wall behind Winter.

"Really?"

"Yea I'm not sure why either." Jaune put a hand to his eyes.

"Can we not talk about that particular part?"

"Actually I think we are done here, you go on home I guess, I'll head out to talk to the Senator's staff about the Auxiliary post, if they accept you I'm sure they'll send word to you." Winter said as she stood up again, raising her arms she gestured for Weiss to come over. The younger girl immediately entered an embrace with her. Jaune looked away, for some reason not wanting to look at the relative tender moment between two sisters.

"Alright Mr. Arc." Winter said as the two Schnee's finally broke apart, Jaune stood up straight. Winter held out a hand which Jaune took and gave a firm shake, he couldn't help but notice how cold and smooth her hand was. For some reason he couldn't help but think of frozen yogurt as they let go of each other's hand. Winter bid her final farewell, leaving the two of them alone.

"Well, she was nice." Jaune remarked, breaking the silence the filled the room with Winter's departure.

"She liked you." Weiss said and Jaune looked towards her, again surprised to see a small smile on her face.

"Eh, maybe, though I can see you two are really close." Weiss turned towards him.

"Actually this is the first time we spoke in almost a year." Jaune's eyebrows flew up in surprise.

"Really?" Weiss nodded as the two of them left the room.

"We had an argument about me staying in Vale a while back since I was doing it to avoid being home." Jaune frowned.

"What?" Weiss shrugged as they walked down the steps to the lobby.

"I guess it is a little complicated but the gist of it is the fact that I stayed here in Vale, with the help of my mother who gave me the finances, despite the protest of my father who wanted me to attend a prestigious private school in Atlas. So since I'm here me and my father have been in a cold war of sorts which then brings me to earlier this year when he decided to start pressure my mother to stop sending me money in hopes of forcing me to come back. Winter heard about it and tried to convince me to go home but I refused leading to us fighting and not talking to each other." Weiss said as she opened the front door, Jaune wasn't sure what to say since he was still wrapping his head around what she said.

"So wait your mother let you stay alone in Vale despite you going out with Neptune? Wasn't she worried about that at least?" Weiss didn't say anything and Jaune started to have a suspicious feeling about something.

"Does she know? I'm assuming yes since your sister knows but knowing what siblings are like I can imagine her keeping it a secret if she felt like so." Again Weiss didn't say anything as they reached the street; the sun had passed its zenith. The bustle of an active city was much clearer, the thunderous sound of rotors as helicopters crossed the air space of the city above them.

"She doesn't." Weiss finally said as the two of them crossed the street.

"Really?"

"Yea, Winter respects my choice in wanting to date, she just didn't, well, like my choice in men." Jaune chuckled softly as he unlocked the Mustang.

"I suppose she needs to take the place of being the disapproving one instead of your parents." Weiss snorted very unladylike at that as they sat down.

"Neptune's a great person; he's kind, funny, and charming." Weiss said and Jaune said nothing as he felt that there was really nothing for him to say about the manner.

"He never treated me wholly different like some prize, nor as he tried to just use me in hopes of using my name plus he always send the cutest texts and sometimes even flowers when I needed it." Weiss spoke but for some reason Jaune felt like she wasn't really addressing him.

"Before we started dating he would have all these girls that he would talk too but he stopped that when we got together. My sister had claimed that he was just a player that wanted to get into my pants but he proved her wrong on that account. Loyalty is what he's shown me and at the same time, through him I also made friends who on any other occasion I probably would have hated or despised." Jaune stayed silent as they drove, Weiss didn't say anything else as until halfway back to their new place.

"Hey, look." Weiss said pointing across his vision, following her finger he was surprised to see what looked to be a street market.

"Wanna check it out?" He asked looking towards her.

"Really?"

"Sure, why not, besides we can see how the remains of society are working out." Weiss nodded a little as Jaune pulled the Mustang to the curb again. Opening the car door he could smell the aroma of food and the noise of a large crowd of people talking.

"Something smells nice." Weiss remarked and pulled something out from behind her, it was a wallet.

"Did you really keep your wallet?" Weiss frowned.

"Wait, you didn't?" Jaune shook his head.

"Holding onto my wallet didn't seem that important at the time." Weiss made some noise and it took a moment for Jaune to realize that she was laughing, a surprisingly pleasant laugh.

"Come on, I suppose if we get some it'll be my treat." Jaune felt a smile grow on his own face.

"But you're paying me back when this is all over." She said as they crossed the street.

"Aww."

* * *

 **An Hour Later…**

Their market excursion had been surprisingly successful; the Lien was still in fashion though that didn't mean that barter was off the table for many people. They couldn't trade anything they had on them but things of value like jewelry, guns, ammunition, food, medical supplies and other assortment of objects could be used.

Thanks to Weiss, who had a ridiculous amount of cash on hand, Jaune was able to buy apples, chips, some fresh tomatoes, lettuce, water, soap bars, and canned food. They had also been able to get their hands on a map of Mountain Glenn and the surrounding areas.

Along with that Jaune was able to gather more information about what had happen to others. The general consensus was that a lot of people believed that the end of this era of civilization was upon them.

To them if or when the undead were finally beaten that the world that they had once known would be gone. Fewer among them though fear that the world is ending.

Jaune wasn't sure how to feel about that, in a sense he understood that inherit fear that many people have of that future but at the same time he would argue that they could never return to their old lives. He did have a hope that maybe their future children or generation might begin that path to that brings back their old lives.

Others had more practical conversations consisted of scattered military units, survivors and even bandits. Jaune heard of one startling account of a group of red cladded bikers that had put a small town with its people to the sword in the east.

He didn't hear anything about Cinder or anyone that resembled her group. The closest bit of information that he heard was of a firefight at a gas station but from what people had been saying it was a completely different group involved.

The most disconcerting information that Jaune heard was that more and more zombies had been spotted in the country side. Which brought up the question to him of whether they were just moving around aimlessly and just happened to leave the cities or were they seeking more food?

"Jaune?" Weiss voice broke into his thinking.

"Yea?"

"You stopped, is everything alright?" She asked but Jaune nodded.

"Yea, it's nothing I was just thinking." She nodded and the two of them continued walking out of the market.

"What were you thinking about?"

"Just thinking about what people have said." Weiss nodded as she glanced at him.

"Say, do you really think the world is ending?"

"I wouldn't put too much stock in what they said." Jaune replied as they reached the street where he had parked the Mustang.

"But things aren't going to be normal again."

"Well I would say that normal is subjective, we've always been in a constant fear of death now we're just more aware of it."

"That doesn't make any sense; the perceived normalization of death because zombies are real doesn't make it any less odd." Weiss as she crossed the street.

"Well I would say that the concept of dying hasn't been abnormal at all we just haven't really felt it was since we live in such a modern civilization. Yet at the same time people died all the time, car accidents, old age, crime, drug overdose. We could die right now in fact if a driver was speeding and hit us when we crossed the street because he couldn't stop in time." Jaune pointed out.

"Fair enough." Weiss said as Jaune opened the trunk for her to put the bags inside.

"Look I'll agree that things aren't normal, the dead rising to attack the living and the mass deaths of people around the world, all of these things aren't normal. With that said I just think we should start coming into terms that there's a timer on everyone, a timer that ends with us dying."

"Are you talking about destiny now?" Weiss asked but Jaune shook his head.

"No. Maybe, I'm not sure really." She hummed a little at that as they sat down in the Mustang.

"So are you planning on making any food tonight? It would be nice to have something other than freeze dried meals." Jaune shrugged.

"We'll see." As the two of them made their way back however they saw something that neither of them expected, Neptune was walking with another girl. Jaune could see Weiss staring intently out the passenger window at the pair.

"What is he doing?"

* * *

 **Elsewhere…**

Neo turned the corner half expecting to see the mangled bodies of zombies waiting for her but there was nothing. Scanning the hallway with her handgun held ready she could see that there were no signs of life.

Looking behind her, she flashed a quick hand signal and several soldiers moved forward with their M4 carbines and M16A4 rifles held ready. Four soldiers moved to her right while three took up position behind her.

Moving forward she could see that there were two doors to either side, sighing she knew that they would have to check each of them.

She made another hand gesture and two soldiers stepped out to take up position to either side of it. Leaping frogging them, she and one other took the next door while the four on the other wall did the same.

Counting down with her fingers, the soldier kicked the door, it swung open with a crack of wood and Neo moved in with her handgun raised. The flashlight attachment blazed as it scanned the room but there was no movement and no smell of blood.

"Clear!" The man with her shouted, outside she could hear the chorus of similar replies. The man relaxed a little then headed back out to the hallway. Neo moved forward and opened the curtains in the room, natural light flooded in.

Looking out the window, she could see the parking lot of the motel they had found jammed pack with their vehicles. The two Humvees by the main road watching anything that might try to approach while soldiers who had left with them or joined along the way watched the surrounding areas for people, dead or alive.

Though there was also an additional group with them this time. Which sit ill at ease with Neo, a group of what she assumed were marauders, had apparently come to barter for supplies from them. Their red and black uniform equipment along with their weaponry would or could be a problem in fighting.

Most of the armor seemed to be a patchwork of motorcycle and police equipment that had been spray painted. They were also armed with submachine guns and assault rifles that she had no doubt that they had looted them from abandon police precincts.

She supposed she should just be grateful they weren't the people that Roman told her about just because they weren't the same didn't mean they could do the same thing. Thinking back to her night excursion she could still see the massacre.

At the same time the ones that were massacred had apparently ambushed and killed a band of survivors themselves. So really innocence was truly subjective in this case as even they have done some questionable things.

"Ma'am, Roman wants to talk with you." Neo nodded as she stepped back out into the hallway. The soldiers had finished clearing it and now the members of their group where going through it either to pick up supplies or find a place to rest for the day.

Roman had wanted to find a place to hunker down to plan their next move. Neo was grateful as her car had apparently suffered more damage than she had first reckoned. When she had Roman inspect it for her, it turned out that the rear axle was damaged along with the engine resulting in it being next to useless without proper repairs.

"I told you, I can't give you that much for what you're giving me. So you're either going to have to deal with it for now or come back with more to give." Neo heard someone yelling, walking down a flight of stairs that lead to the open hallways of the first floor of the motel which had a small open roof courtyard.

She could see Roman with his arms crossed, obviously annoyed, talking to a woman with short hair next to a fountain that was built into the center. Around them were four other people dressed in a similar fashion with the unknown woman.

"We need the ammunition; if we can't have it then we can't function properly." The woman said.

Neo could see that she had a black tactical vest and leg platform along with a pair of red motorcycle shin guards. A red and black helmet was placed on the edge of the fountain.

What perked her attention was that fact that instead of a normal sidearm, she had a MP7 strapped to her thigh. Hanging from a hook on her vest was also a black SCAR 17, looking around Neo could the four others with similar weapons.

Something about it made her itch to draw her weapon and start firing but she could see Roman giving her a meaningful glare.

"Now I understand that you're in need of this ammunition but I must decline one last time, as you may need it there are those like us that need it much more." Roman said gesturing around where their people were carrying supplies inside to store. It was a precaution in case someone stole one of the box trucks.

"As we need it to protect ourselves against the undead and in some cases the living as we go out and gather supplies that are wasting away in areas that life no longer touches. Now I'm sure you procure a certain amount of supplies as well as us, and we also both make sure to take it from those that no longer need it." The woman nodded.

"Right you are Mr. Torchwick; we're all united to fight against the undead." Roman chuckled.

"Fighting the undead? Maybe but united, I have my doubts as another difference between us is we don't kill other people out of joy or just the need to steal their belongings." The woman narrowed her eyes but Roman cut her off.

"Yes, yes, you make scary faces but listen kid I'm not here to condemn you. All I care about is whether or not I'm wasting my time and right now you're wasting my time." The woman gave a hideous smirk and Roman could see her hand reaching to rest on her MP7.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Roman said as a smile grew on his face. The woman looked up to see a dozen armed soldiers on the second floor of the motel with their rifles held loosely but it would be hard not to see how ready they were.

Five of them had under slung forty millimeter grenade launchers, each of which Neo knew were probably load with high explosive rounds.

"Now would you kindly either take what I offered and leave or leave then come back with the proper materials for the trade you proposed?" The woman said nothing then nodded.

"Fine Mr. Torchwick, we have a deal." She reached out to grab her helmet but Roman stopped her by placing his hand on it.

"Be aware that if you and your group somehow get the idea of trying to push or take from me that it will not go as you planned, understand?" He released his grip on the helmet and the woman took it back, Roman smiled.

"I'll have my boys pack your order up and leave it outside for you, other than that, we're done here. Run along now." He said jovially, shooing her away with a little wave of his hand. Neo walked up beside him and the two of them watched the woman leave with her compatriots.

"I know what you're thinking but business is business." Roman sighed after a few moments; Neo didn't say anything as she felt no need too.

"I bet you're wondering who she was." Neo nodded, she didn't actually care but she figured she'd indulge Roman's habit of talking.

"Well it appears she's some underling of a group of marauders that are notorious already for their violent streak. Percy heard over one of our CB radios chatter about a group of people that put a small town to the sword a few days ago. Nothing like those people I had you tail, these people mean business and between you and mean they're a lot scarier. Anyways, they came to us in need of ammunition; their original order was for five thousand 5.56 rounds, four thousand of the 7.62s, four thousand 9 millimeter rounds, three thousand .45 ACP rounds and a thousand twelve gauge shells." Neo whistled.

"I know right? That much merchandise doesn't come cheap and they didn't have nearly enough to cover that much and nor can we afford to give that much but I figured it would be best if I just made it about the price. I had the feeling that she would go to her boss and relay information about us, if I had told her that or she sensed weakness, but even then I wouldn't be surprised if they come for us within a day. They probably will send a team to probe us tonight." Roman sighed as he pulled out a half chewed cigar then flashed a smile towards her.

"You'll have some fun tonight probably!" He said and Neo had the sudden urge to sock Roman in his face but his smile died as fast as it came.

"Though I have to say the information she gave me is a bit concerning." Neo tilted her head a little confused.

"Oh right, you didn't hear. Well apparently the undead have been seen leaving the cities, no one is sure if that's just random or they're actively hunting. The closest town to us is Vermilion, with a population of a hundred thousand, from what I know they got hit so hard by the zombies that the Army would probably think about flattening it with heavy ordinance before sending troops in." Roman held up a hand to stop Neo from asking anything.

"Before you ask, yes we'll be moving soon but I wanted to give the others time to rest. Driving around nonstop can be a pain in the ass and hunting for supplies with the threat of the undead or bandits is very stressful." Neo nodded silently, she knew that Roman obviously wasn't doing this out of the kindness of his heart. He just didn't want to breed a possibility for mutiny amongst the group against him.

"Ah! Perry my boy! How's the perimeter?" Roman called out and Neo turned to see his glasses wearing aid.

"Everything appears to be in order, we've moved most of the food and medical supplies into the kitchen and Williams is getting the ammunition split and locked into rooms where the soldiers are billeting tonight. Also Eris wants to know if she should set the CB radios up in the lobby." Perry asked and Neo tuned the two of them out as she walked outside the motel.

Aside from a few fast food joints, a gas station and a few other nondescript buildings they were in the middle of nowhere. Though that didn't mean that people couldn't be coming around, as the bikers were testament that people could still find them.

Speaking of which, Neo could see two trucks surrounded by bikers down the road from the motel. One of them seemed to be staring at her. She narrowed her eyes as she crossed her arms and spat to the side.

"Ma'am?" A voice asked from behind and Neo turned to see one of the soldiers they had picked up looking at her with confusion on her face.

"Oh, you're looking at them? Yea we did what Torchwick asked us to do but I think it might have been better had we not done that cause now they seem to be watching us from a distance rather than returning to wherever they had come from." Neo knew that Roman's hunch about what was going to transpire was true, the soldier with her started to back away as she saw something that sent chills down her back.

Neo was smiling.

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

Jaune stood by the Mustang as it was parked outside an alley. He and Weiss had followed Neptune; Jaune was in white hot terror at the things Weiss had said aloud in the car. Things pertaining to parts that no man would want to hear even if it wasn't directed towards him.

Now he thankfully didn't have to listen to the vile threats that she had spouted though he was indeed worried about what was going on. The implication of what was going on was too much too bare but Jaune knew at the same time that Neptune was a good guy.

He had no doubt that no matter what happened things will turn out fine.

"YOU'RE A FOUL WOMANIZING BASTARD!" A high pitched voice screamed from the alley.

"Shit." Jaune whispered as two women came out from the alley. One was a short girl with auburn hair wearing clothes that left almost nothing to the imagination and the other of course was Weiss. He couldn't help but notice the other woman seemed to be holding her nose.

"Weiss are you…" Jaune started to say but she rounded on him, pure rage burned in her eyes.

"Let's get out of here Jaune; we'll leave the trash where it belongs." Jaune said nothing as he moved around to the driver door. Looking back at the alley he could see Neptune rubbing his cheek and watching him, for some reason he looked mad as well.

Getting into the driver seat he looked over to Weiss but she had her face buried in her hands. Looking closely he could see that she seemed to be trembling, out of rage or despair, he wasn't sure.

The Mustang roared to life and Jaune eased it back onto the road. Glancing up in the rear view mirror he could see Neptune already walking away. Jaune wasn't sure where he was going but as he glanced over at the shaking Weiss, he couldn't help but hope he wouldn't come back.

* * *

 **An Hour Later…**

Jaune, Sun, Ren and Qrow sat by themselves in the living room of the apartment they were staying in. Upon returning Weiss had immediately locked herself in a room alone, it was only by the persistent coaxing of Yang that she opened to let the other ladies in.

Jaune had explained the situation to Ren, Sun and Qrow, none of them particularly like Neptune at the moment as well.

"What the fuck was that little blue hair bastard thinking?" Qrow asked as he ran a hand through his hair.

"I'm not sure I didn't go with Weiss when she went to confront him." Jaune said as dissembled and cleaned his Glock; it was the only thing that was keeping him from going to check on Weiss like the others.

"I still can't believe Neptune would do that, he wouldn't shut up about Weiss whenever we were hanging out. He was head over heels for her." Sun said aloud in disbelief.

"He had a reason I guess, whether or not he thought it was justified it's still wrong though." Ren said before looking at Jaune.

"Do you think he'll come back?" Ren asked looking over to his friend but Jaune simply shrugged.

"I can't say, the human heart is filled with nothing but emotion and emotions are fickle in their desire." Qrow snorted.

"I doubt he'd stay for long, Yang and Ruby would probably rip him a new one."

"Well we would still have to let him in." Jaune remarked earning a glare from the older man.

"If there's one thing I hate, its people who accept those that made unforgivable choices." Jaune shook his head.

"I wasn't saying that he could necessarily stay here but I wouldn't chase him out as that would be a group decision as a whole. At the same time let me be clear that I'm not happy with Neptune but with that being said I would at least allow him to gather a few items so he could look after himself since he'll have no one for company." Qrow grunted and Ren nodded.

"Fair enough, just because he's on bad grounds with Weiss doesn't mean we need to condemn him to death or anything."

"I wouldn't say us kicking him out would condemn him to death now that we're in Mountain Glenn, I also don't think wasting supplies is suited for a response for him." Qrow pointed out.

"Maybe but it's still the right thing to do." Qrow just laughed a little as he stood up.

"Well be that as it may I think you'll just have to handle it the best you can but in the meantime I think we need to ease out of this depressing gloom." Qrow said as he walked over to a cabinet and opened it. Inside Jaune could see more than a dozen bottles of what he assumed was liquor. Qrow turned around holding a green bottle.

"Aren't we a little young to be drinking?" Jaune earned a snort from the older man as he closed the cabinet.

"Jaune you're running around with guns you don't have a license for and shooting moving dead bodies that want to eat us. I think you can drink something like whiskey."

"He's got a point." Ren pointed out.

"Do you really think you should drink?" Sun asked looking at Ren, the magenta eye teen seemed to think it over.

"Yea, no."

"What? Why?" Qrow asked as he returned with four cups and an ice tray.

"Because if he's drunk who's going to be the voice of reason for Nora?" Sun pointed out, Qrow looked at Ren.

"You poor soul." He said as he put two ice cubes in three cups then poured a few fingers of the amber liquor in each one. Sun eagerly took his cup and began to drink from it, smacking his lips. Jaune took the proffered cup and raised it to his face. It smelled strong as he took a sip; a burning sensation went down his throat.

"Whoa, that's something." Jaune said making a face as he lowered the cup.

"Yea it is." Qrow said with a blissful look on his face, Jaune noticed his glass was already empty of any whiskey. Sun looked to enjoying it also but Jaune could see that he already looked a little red in the cheeks.

"Ah, I almost had forgotten how liquor tastes." Qrow said.

"Did you stop drinking?" Ren asked looking over at him, the older man nodded.

"I had a very good reason to stop." He said a strange look taking root in his eyes as he stared ahead.

"In fact that reason is comforting her friend right now."

"Yang?" Jaune asked but Qrow shook his head.

"God no, if anything she makes me want to drink even more. It's Ruby."

"Ruby?"

"Well more specifically how she reminds me of her mother." Jaune glanced at Ren and Sun who met his eyes but none of them said anything.

"Her name was Summer Rose; she had been friends with me, my sister and Taiyang since High School we even went to Beacon together. Taiyang would get his degree in physical therapy but he would end up opening his boxing place, I got my Masters in History then began to teach and she would get a Doctorate in medicine."

"Wait you were a teacher?" Sun asked and Qrow smiled

"Yup, I was a High School History teacher, I reckon if I was still teaching I probably would have been teaching one of you."

"Why did you stop?" Jaune asked, he could see the smile fade away, the brief flash of pain and disgust went through his eyes.

"Well to give you a better idea, after Yang's mother left Taiyang, Summer stepped in to help him. It wouldn't be even two years later that I would get a call from Taiyang about Summer being pregnant. Nine months later she had Ruby, Summer would ask me to be more involved her upbringing why she felt I was needed I'm not sure but I did my best to be there. However one night when Ruby was barely even six years old, I got a call from Taiyang, Summer had been killed in an accident with a drunk driver. Now mind you I did a lot of drinking, hell I gave Summer her first sip of alcohol in Beacon. So when I heard that it was a drunk driver that killed her, I couldn't bring myself to drink anymore. I also quit my job as a teacher as Summer had been the one to influence me to be one. Taiyang was devastated at her death but he needed to go to work as he couldn't let his business fall apart as he knew Summer would have scolded him. I however did what Summer had originally asked for and became involved in Ruby's and Yang's lives. It wouldn't be until about a year later that I decided to become a police office and here we are." No one said anything at first; Jaune gingerly took another sip of his whiskey.

"So is that why Ruby's last name is different than Yang's?" Ren asked.

"Yea, I'm not sure who decided but I think Ruby decided to keep her mother's last name plus it might have to do with the fact that Summer and Taiyang never got married."

"They never got married? Even after they found out she was pregnant?" Sun asked and Qrow nodded.

"Yea Summer said that it wasn't needed so they never got married."

"So her death is the reason why you stopped drinking but why are you drinking now?" Jaune asked.

"I'm…not actually sure." The older man said the room fell to silence once more.

"JAUNE!" A voice thundered in his ear and he looked up to see Helena looking at the cup in his hand.

"Holy shit Helena, no need to yell." Jaune said but she pointed to the cup.

"Are you drinking!?" Jaune set the cup on the table.

"Maybe."

"You're too young to drink Jaune, it's not right." She said slapping his arm, Jaune grabbed her hand.

"Please Helena its fine; I'm not going to become an alcoholic or something."

"Qrow are you giving my little brother liquor?" Mina asked as she joined them, looking up Qrow gave her a blank look.

"Maybe." Mina smiled.

"And none for me? I'm hurt." Qrow gestured to the couch.

"Take a seat." Blake sat down next to Sun with Ruby next to her, Pyrrha and Yang sat to either side of Jaune while Nora sat on Ren's lap.

"So Jaune, a fancy drink and two beautiful ladies on both arms, this is the life isn't it?" Yang said with a grin but Jaune snorted.

"Ignoring the fact that zombies are killing people then yes this is a dream come true." He looked towards Pyrrha who was staring at the floor.

"So how is she?" Pyrrha tried to smile.

"She's not doing so well, I wouldn't expect to see her return to normal for a little while." Jaune clicked his tongue.

"It's a shame that something like this had to happen." Yang cracked her knuckles.

"Next time I see that blue hair cunt, I'm gonna deck him."

"Language." Qrow said but Yang ignored him as there was a knock at the door.

"That must be him!" Yang sprang up and moved to the door. Jaune stood up as he did actually believe that Yang would punch him and would rather avoid something like that. However when he looked up to see Yang holding the door open with a surprised and disgusted face he knew something was off. So he walked up to her side to see what she was staring at.

Standing in front of them dressed in a pair of jeans, boots, a grey letterman jacket and aviators propped on top of his head was the last person Jaune would have ever wanted to see.

"Hey there Jauney Boy."

* * *

 **Oh dear, I wonder who that could be.**

 **I was hoping to have this out by New Years Eve but that kind of failed but at least it came out.**

 **So let me know what you think of this chapter or the story in the review section or send me a PM as I'm happy to discuss almost anything you might have on your mind.**

 **On a side note for those of you who have found me through this story may I also direct your attention to my new revamped The Lost Son series along with the fanciful artwork of a certain Character in that story that I asked Matthew Milne to do for me, just look at my profile to see his Deviantart Info.**

 **Anyways till next time!**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Cardin Winchester.

The last person Jaune ever wanted to see in his life. In fact he would rather have to run into the undead bodies of his family than him.

Glancing at Yang, he could see her tensing up as she drew her fist back and he instantly was hugging her from behind in order to prevent her from decking the other teen.

"LET ME AT HIM!" Yang roared in rage as Jaune lifted and carried her away as she struggled to break out of his grip. Qrow immediately took their place and gave a cold glare at the teen whose sneer he had been wearing the entire time died away.

"What do you want?" Qrow deadpanned and Cardin held up a stack of papers.

"I saw the old man certifying these so I decided to take a look and imagine my surprise to see little Jauney here leading this group so I thought I'd stop by to deliver the good news." Qrow frowned.

"Old man? What's your name kid?" Cardin's sneer returned as he crossed his arms.

"Cardin Winchester." Qrow nodded slowly then began to close the door when Cardin stuck his hand out to stop the door, Qrow glared at him and he retracted his hand.

"Don't close the door on me unless you know what's good for you." Cardin said but Qrow just snorted.

"Whatever." Then slammed the door closed before Cardin could react.

"Fucking cunt!" Cardin yelled from the other side of the door but Qrow ignored him as he took a look at the papers. Glancing up he could see that Jaune was still holding onto his furious niece.

"Let me go Jaune!" Yang yelled again but Jaune didn't release his grip.

"Yang calm down." Jaune tried to say but she just screamed in frustration and elbowed him in the cheek. Jaune let go of her as he stumbled back, Pyrrha and Mina moved in to block Yang in his place. It took a few more moment before the blonde girl finally calmed down.

"Jesus Yang what the hell was that all about?" Sun asked as she sat down.

"Cardin is a fucking bastard he deserves to get punched. If you guys don't remember he stabbed Yatsuhashi, he needs to get his ass kicked!" Yang said furiously.

"Yea I'm not sure that would be a good idea." Qrow said as he handed the stack of papers over to Jaune who was rubbing his cheek. Jaune began to read it and realized what Qrow meant.

"What does it say?" Ruby asked as she moved next to him to read it.

"Well the good news is, we're now officially recognized as the 1st Auxiliary Combat Squad, though I'll need to go in to verbally confirm that we understand this contract as for what Qrow meant is seems we should be careful around Cardin."

"Why?" Ren asked and Jaune held up the paper for him to see.

"Signed by Senator Arthur Winchester?" Ren met Jaune's eyes and he nodded.

"Well shit."

"So what does that mean?" Ruby asked, Blake sighed as she sat down next to Yang on the couch.

"I think it means that Cardin's dad is a Valean Senator."

"So he's the senator that has taken the role as leader of the city with the Mayor's death." Jaune supplied.

"Wait, what does that have to do with Cardin?"

"I think what's being insinuated is if we're not careful with Cardin we might end up on the Senator's bad side which could prove to be a very dangerous thing for our safety." Karen spoke up.

"So you're suggesting that Cardin might influence his father to have us arrested or punished in some way?" Helena asked but no one said anything at that.

"What's going on?" Everyone turned to see Weiss standing at the doorway of the room she had been in. None of them mentioned how puffy and red her eyes were.

"Cardin's alive and his father it seems is the Senator your sister mentioned." Jaune was the first to speak up, her eyes widened in surprised then she looked at Yang.

"You didn't punch him did you?" Yang snorted.

"I wish but Jaune stopped me." Weiss nodded.

"That's good he might have used that as an excuse to have his dad kick us out of the city." Jaune stood up and held up the stack of papers.

"Wanna go over this Weiss? It appears to be a contract of sorts and I rather not read it alone since I'm not smart enough to understand the lingo." Weiss rolled her eyes a small smile on her face, the two of them sat at the kitchen table to go over it.

"Do you think we should have someone stand guard tonight?" Ren asked.

"What for? Even I don't think Cardin would try again so soon, it would be too obvious." Nora pointed out.

"She's right; I think Cardin just wanted us to know that he was here and that he has someone powerful at his back." Blake said.

"Actually we don't know that, all we know is that the two of them are supposedly related but how can we know that Mr. Winchester will be like his son?" Pyrrha spoke up.

"Well he is a politician and they're generally scum." Blake replied.

"Well isn't that's kind of narrow minded? He's generally trying to look out for the city isn't he? Otherwise why would he assume authority?" Ruby asked.

"Ruby you're young so you might not understand that a person can have more than one focus in their agenda. Not an altruistic motive, if most of the Senate and high ranking officials are for instance, dead, and then if or when we take back the country people are going to look at who has done the most for the people in this time of crisis. If then Senator Winchester it brought up on how he maintained one of the biggest cities in Vale and helped recover the surrounding lands from the hands of the Undead then he'll get almost certainly a large amount of votes or support." Karen said and the younger girl shrugged.

"What do I know, I'm still in high school, and I don't even have my learning permit to drive." Yang grimaced.

"Ooooh yeah, we definitely need to teach you how to drive." Ruby crossed her arms.

"I know how to drive." Qrow snorted.

"If you learned from Yang then you don't know how to drive."

"Hey! That's rude." Yang said with mock hurt.

"The only thing that hurts is my head whenever I let you drive me places." Qrow said simply as he ran a hand through his hair causing most of the room's occupants to laugh.

"So what's the deal with the paper? Anything we need to know?" Sun asked looking over at Jaune and Weiss.

"Yes, well it seems that everything is in order. We'll need to inform them who we'll have to make up our Auxiliary squad; we can have up to twelve people in the squad with a minimum of six people at any time." No one said anything until Ren spoke up.

"So who wants to go?" He asked looking around.

"Well I'm already on the list so only five of you have to join." Jaune said as Pyrrha frowned.

"You don't have to go if you don't want too." Jaune smiled and held up one of the papers.

"I'm afraid I have no choice, however with that being said it does stipulate that we don't have to have the same people at all times so we can switch it out when necessary."

"What else does it say?" Mina asked and Weiss handed Jaune another paper.

"Let's see, well aside from squad composition there's a section detailing that as long as we are Auxiliaries anything we find must be turned for inventory, things like food, fuel, medical supplies, ammunition, and vehicles. Though it does stipulate that the needs of the individual can be met prior to inventory however hoarding any supplies can be punishable by seizure of corresponding supplies, imprisonment or exiled from the city."

"Exile?!" Yang said as she sat up.

"That seems a little harsh." Pyrrha added to which the others nodded, Jaune sighed.

"I suppose it is but's the rule besides there's more stuff in here about the requisition for weekly supplies. They're willing to give free lodging, food, weapons and medical supplies. There's also a section that details vehicles in which we can get a military Humvee if we build up credit with them." Weiss chimed in.

"A Humvee?" Ren asked.

"So just the Humvee or do we get a heavy machine gun as well? Also if we get that does that mean we get our own maintenance supplies with it or do we have to go to their motor pool and have them fix it?" Karen asked Weiss looked down at the papers again before responding.

"We will indeed get a, Browning .50 Caliber Machine Gun, along with five thousand rounds and a weapon maintenance kit for it. Additional supplies or ammunition has to be ordered by us while we get an additional five hundred rounds a week for free." Karen snorted.

"Wow a whole five hundred rounds? We'll burn through that in less than five minutes." Jaune tossed the paper he was holding onto the table and rubbed his eyes.

"Alright that's enough we can sort this out later." Jaune said as he stood up and walked over to the sink. Turning on the facet he was glad to see that water came out immediately before he splashed his face.

"Jaune's right we can solve this after dinner." Pyrrha chimed in.

"Dinner?" Jaune lifted his head to look back at the others.

"Yea, we voted for you to make dinner tonight." Sun proclaimed.

"Voted? Who got the second most votes?"

"I did." Ren called out and Jaune crossed his arms.

"Nora?" He asked and Ren nodded.

"Hey breakfast for dinner sounds like a great idea to me." Nora complained.

"Yea but the kitchen doesn't have any pancake ingredients." Helena pointed out much to Nora's dismay.

"Then what was the point of you guys going to a market if you weren't going to get pancake mix!?" Jaune shrugged as he stood up. He walked over to the small kitchen area and began to go through it. Most of the items that he could see were in disarray from whoever lived here before.

Over the next twenty minutes Jaune pulled everything that an actual food item. Soon he had a pile of three bags of white rice each weighing ten or more pounds. Aside from that Jaune also was able to find two packets of chicken thighs, mushrooms, broccoli, eggs, milk, and spinach.

"So what's the plan?" Pyrrha asked as she moved to stand next to him. Even though neither of them had taken shower in the last few days Jaune couldn't help but catch the smell of cinnamon in her scent. He gulped slightly before clearing his throat to buy himself time to think.

"I'm thinking maybe chicken stir fry." Pyrrha nodded in approval.

"I think it's safe to say that we're all ready for some actual food." Jaune chuckled.

"Definitely can't blame you on that, the packaged food is great in keeping us alive but it does lack in the taste department." Pyrrha smiled as well before nodding towards the many open kitchen cabinets.

"Got everything you need for it?"

"Oh yea, I've got the chicken, rice, mushrooms and broccoli. Though I'll need to double check to see if we've got some soy sauce and ginger but other than that I think I'm set." Pyrrha gestured towards the cabinets.

"Need a hand?" She asked and Jaune smiled.

"I would love it."

* * *

 **Later That Night…**

Neo slowly drew up the blinds of the bedroom she was staying in. Down the street the lights of the motel were on as the noncombatants of Roman's group bunkered down for the night.

For her though the night brought more work to deal with. The marauders from earlier were slowly moving towards the motel. Her M110 rifle was propped against the wall next to her; she reached over and grabbed it.

Kneeling down she opened the window slowly then set the rifle's bipod down on the window sill. Looking through the scope she could see that most of the buildings were dark as no one was in them anymore, the previous occupants leaving them abandoned.

The only lights that worked still were the street lights and sensor based ones on the buildings. She spotted two dozen figures moving low and slowly on the sidewalks towards the motel.

Just as she suspected all of them were armed and armored. They also looked very aware that there could be an ambush waiting as many of them were aiming their weapons towards the buildings surrounding them.

"Ma'am we're in position and have eyes on the targets. I count twenty four bandits advancing with another dozen guarding a group of motor vehicles to the east about three miles out from our position. We're ready to engage on your signal." One of the other soldiers whispered over the radio, Neo felt a smile grow on her face as she was about to prove the marauders right in their caution.

Zeroing in on the lead figure she tracked them as they moved for a few feet before firing. Even with a sound suppressor on the rifle, the shot sounded incredibly loud.

The lead figure however tumbled to the ground as she switched to the next person who stood still in surprise. Firing again she watched as the person was snatched off their feet before gunfire exploded from the buildings.

Bright muzzle flash lingered in Neo's vision as the soldiers of Roman's group rinsed the approaching marauder group with small arms fire.

A testament to their willingness to fight the remaining seven that were still alive began to return fire. A few shots even struck near Neo, glass shattered above her as the window was struck by bullets. Neo covered her head with one arm as the glass rained down on her.

However the superior position of Roman's people was able to cut down the marauders. All seemed quiet save for the sporadic crackle of gunfire in the distance as another team tracked down the vehicles. Neo could also hear radio chatter between the members of the team that accompanied her, one of them seemed to be hit but everything seemed fine.

So she ignored it as she looked out the window again. For some reason she couldn't help but feel something was off about this, she just couldn't put her finger on it.

"Contact! Enemies to the south! Counting several squads of enemy combatants heavily armed." A new voice came over the radio.

"It was a diversion, they're inside the perimeter!" Another voice called out before gunfire crackled across the street, barely muffled by the walls.

Neo however had a different problem as she could hear movement outside the room she was in. Slinging her rifle around her torso, she pulled her sidearm out just as the door to the room exploded inward.

She dove behind the bed as gunfire ripped into the room from the doorway. Wood and glass fragments rained down on her as the bullets ripped up the room, a few rounds passed so close that she swore she could feel the shift in air pressure as they barely missed her.

A few more seconds of gunfire pass by before everything went silent or sort of silent as her ears were ringing loudly while more gunfire echoed outside. She held her breath as she held her pistol up, there was a crunch of glass and she sprang up.

In front of her were two figures, not wasting any time she put two quick rounds into each of them. The first falling down without a sound, the second yelled in pain while writhing on the floor in pain. Neo jumped up and moved towards the door with her handgun aimed incase another person appeared.

She quickly put another round in the head of the man that was writhing in pain. Then peeked out the door but she couldn't see anyone else in the dimly lighted hallway.

Neo patted herself down quickly to make sure she didn't have any injuries then proceeded down the hallway towards the main stairs. As she reached the ground floor Neo looked around quickly, four pillars led up towards the front door while to the left was the receptionist desk. On the right there was a bar, with a few tables and chairs in front of it.

What caught her attention however were the two bandits standing in the middle, raising her pistol she fired several more times at the nearest one as they turned towards her.

The second bandit fired from the hip as the first one fell to the ground dead, Neo vaulted over the railing of the stairs as the bullets ripped into the staircase and wall by her. Quickly changing her handgun's magazine and in a low crouch she ran towards the receptionist desk.

More gunfire cracked towards her, a few rounds broke through the wood sending wood fragments into her face. Standing up she fired twice, missing both times as the bandit took cover behind a wooden pillar.

Neo moved back towards the stairs as the bandit fired blindly behind the pillar. Bullet ripping into the wall as they passed through the desk she had been using for cover.

There was a click and Neo made her move vaulting the railing of the stairs once more she moved to the pillar towards the right. Turning it she could see the bandit slamming in a new magazine into his weapon but before he could fire it, Neo put two rounds into his torso.

A gruff voice cried out in pain and she slowly moved forward with her handgun still raised up in case another person showed up.

"P-Please don't." The bandit said as she got close to him, she looked him over. He wore a red sweatshirt with black motorcycle armor however she could see that he had two bleeding holes in his torso, one in his shoulder while the other was in his stomach.

Motorcycle gear was most effective for its intended use though it also wasn't so bad against human's wielding knives and blunt objects but it would never be able to stop a bullet.

"Mercy!" He cried out but Neo ignored him as she shot him in the skull then patted him down for anything useful. Other than a bloody picture of a young girl, a few magazines for an MP5 and a butterfly knife he had nothing.

Sighing she tossed the items aside before heading out the front doors, the pop and crackle of small arms fire could be hard going off vigorously in the distance.

She unslung her rifle and moved towards the street. It was littered with bodies and even a few discarded sport bikes. Down the street Neo could see a few cars alight with fires while a small apartment building was also starting to go up in flames.

"Over here!" A voice called out and Neo turned to see six soldiers waiting up the street by an intersection. They had set out with eleven people including her but it seems the surprise reversal on their ambush has taken a toll.

"Lorn's team has yet to return and Roman's directing the southern defense line with the civvies and Jacobson, Cromley, and Bernard's squads along with most of the civvies. Ashkelon's has her squad covering the west and northern flank. A few of the marauders on sports bikes tried to fire bomb the motel but Ashkelon had the other Humvee sacred them off after taking two of them out." A squat man reported as Neo got close.

"Roman also wants us to stay here to cover the main street but he also had a message for you, and I quoting him here, come at your earliest fucking convenience." The man said before coughing into his fist awkwardly, Neo however just snorted as she turned in the direction of the fighting.

It was a short trip; she only had to get to the other side of the row of buildings she had been holed up. Hopping the back fence of said buildings, Neo could see the flashes of muzzles that accompanied small arms fire.

The fighting was mainly taking place on and around the highway's overpass. Roman had the civvies and a few soldiers remain on the motel side of it laying down a general suppressive fire. Most of the soldiers with him were advancing slowly behind one of the Humvee's on the overpass heading away from Neo.

Opposing them seemed to be a relatively large group, all of whom must have been well armed as she the Humvee's fifty wasn't able to put them into rout instantly. Looking through her rifle's scope she could see the dark figures of bandits lining the other side of the overpass and road.

Roman was taking a gamble in pushing with a lot of soldiers if they get killed or cut off then the civvies would probably break and run. If that happened Neo doubt she'd be able to rein them in as her people skills were lacking to say at least.

With them gone there would only be a few soldiers left to try and rescue them, which would end badly for all of them.

"Incoming!" Someone shouted nearby and Neo looked to see a bright light streaking overhead. Within seconds there a loud explosion pierced her ears and a wave of pressure sent Neo stumbling forward into a low brick wall. Turning around she was surprised to see one of the building alight with fire and a large chunk of wall missing.

"Holy shit was that an RPG?" Someone called out from nearby.

"Can one you PLEASE kill that man?" Roman's voice came over the radio. Neo climbed over the bricks and headed towards the Highway. She looked at the overpass again and could see that the Humvee was close to the other side as more small arms fire was directed towards them by the marauders.

Looking through the scope of her rifle, Neo calmly started to find targets to fire at. Someone nearby set alight a road flare and threw it to the other side, more followed and soon the pale red glow of road flares betrayed the enemy's positions.

Neo could see dozens of figures more clearly, a few began to cover the flares with dirt or throw them away. She began to fire at them; the civilians began to focus their fire more clearly now as well since they were able to see the bandits.

Within moments the renewed fire in front and above the bandits finally broke them as more than a dozen were riddled by rifle fire while the M2 cut through bodies with ease.

She could see most of them fleeing further into the fields away from the highway while a few hopped onto parked sports bikes and tried to speed down the empty highway. Most of those didn't get away as gunfire ripped them apart.

A cheer went up from the civilians that surrounded Neo but she could see that the few soldiers amongst them were still taking the situation very serious. Across the highway the soldiers with the Humvee jumped down to the side of the road to check for anyone still alive.

Standing up straight Neo turned to look back at the building. If people were getting their hands on heavier ordnance then life was about to get a lot harder.

Neo yawned as she turned back towards the motel and walked towards it. In the end it didn't matter for her as long as she had a target to kill she was happy.

* * *

 **The Next Day…**

Jaune was sitting at the kitchen table going over the Auxiliary documents again; he'd already turned in the contract for their group. They had all agreed that he should list himself, Qrow, Pyrrha, Ren, Nora, Karen, Mina, Yang, and Sun as active or rotating members of their Auxiliary squad.

With the reasoning being that Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Helena were noncombatant add-ons or supporting members of their squad. This should keep the four from having to go out on missions with them, while still being considered a part of the squad in the eyes of the Government.

Though when he had thought he had finished with the paper work, the attendant had simply given him another stack of papers. Thankfully most of them were superfluous it seemed, going into more detail about what would be counted in the point system, weapons, food, medical, living quarters.

Along with procedures in adding additional squads which Jaune found interesting as there was also information on the building that they had been housed in.

Apparently they were the only ones to be placed in it but there would most likely be additional occupants of other Auxiliary squads. Which if he understood right then if they all joined together to form a platoon then they may get boosted in the list of priorities for the Auxiliaries.

Which was interesting but what it really made him think about was the fact there could be a number of other supplies in the building they could take. Which might be a little messed up as it would deprive other squads; he didn't know how well they would react to each other.

So having leverage or a gift would definitely smooth things over with his squad and any others that would arrive here. Jaune cupped his chin in thought as he spun a paper on the table absentmindedly,

"What's on your mind?" Helena asked as she sat down next to him.

"Oh, I was just thinking about how to break into the other apartments and go about stealing whatever I can in them." Jaune said casually and Helena laughed softly but it fell away as she realized that he was seriously thinking about that.

"Are we really the only ones here?" She asked and Jaune nodded.

"Apparently as that's what they told me when I went to go turn in the paper work." Helena grinned.

"Sweet." Jaune nodded as Mina walked over and joined them.

"What are ya'll smiling about?" She asked and Helena told her.

"So are you suggesting that we should go and take the supplies out of them?" Jaune shrugged.

"I'm not sure but I think it's an idea we should consider." Mina grimaced.

"It's an interesting idea but I'm not sure that it's a good one." Jaune tilted his head.

"Why not?" Mina sighed.

"I don't know, I guess stripping the supplies or anything useful from the other apartments then using them as leverage would just put us at odds with anyone else that would come here. Though I'm not saying that we can't go through them but I don't think we should take too much." Jaune rubbed his nose with a finger as he thought about it again then nodded.

"Yea I suppose you're right then." Jaune ran a hand through his hair, his eyes felt heavy.

"Jaune you should really get some sleep. You look exhausted." Helena said as she leaned forward to get a closer look at him.

"I'm fine, just a little tired." He tried to reason but Mina clicked her tongue.

"Yea, okay, you're getting some sleep now." She pulled the papers towards her then jerked her thumb over her shoulder towards the bedroom doors.

"If you come out of those in less than an hour I'm having Yang and Pyrrha tying you up." Jaune grimaced.

"Yea let's not get those two involved." Helena grinned.

"Speaking of which, what's up with you and Pyrrha? Have ya'll done anything yet?" Jaune immediately thought about the kiss she gave him and what he had said. He could feel the heat touching his face and the phantom sensation of her lips on his.

"Something did happen; I can see it in your eyes." Mina said as a smile grew on her face, she leaned forward.

"So I'm guessing you two had a passionate kiss or two." Jaune narrowed his eyes and looked down at the table.

"What makes you think that?" He asked but Helena snorted.

"Because when we asked you what the two of you had done you immediately touched your lip." Jaune could feel his face warming up and both of his sisters laughed.

"So?" Mina asked and Jaune tilted his head a little in confusion.

"So?" He echoed and she sighed in irritation.

"So, give us the details, how was she? I'm betting that it was messy since you're both really inexperienced." Mina said as Helena nodded along with her.

"I'm betting that you said something stupid afterwards." Jaune rubbed one eye.

"I'm just gonna go to sleep." Mina chortled as she pointed towards one of the bedroom doors.

"Take our room; we'll make sure to get things done while you're asleep." Jaune stood up and stretched his back before heading inside leaving the two women there to sit.

"You think he's pushing himself too hard, don't you?" Mina asked as she turned to face her younger sister, Helena pursed her lips in thought then nodded.

"I know what you mean, Jaune's dedicated to this but he's been running on empty. I can see it and I know he won't admit it." The two sisters sat in silence for a bit.

"Do you think he should continue in this position?" Mina asked Helena tilted her head a little.

"What do you mean?" Mina looked towards the living room then back at her.

"I'm saying that I don't think Jaune should stay the group leader for much longer." Helena frowned.

"But he's already recognized as the leader by the Government and we all trust him." Mina held up a hand.

"True he is technically the leader of us in the eyes of the Government when it comes to the Auxiliary squad but I mean outside of that."

"You're not making any sense Mina." Helena said as she crossed her arms.

"Look, don't you want to find Sepherina and Katherine?" Helena's frowned softened a little and she nodded.

"Well if we stick to what Jaune's thinks is best then we'll never find them. If we head north then find a ride to Atlas we'll have a better chance of finding them. I know the two of them would have found each other when it became clear that they can't contact us remotely."

"This is crazy, you know that right?" Helena remarked much to Mina's frustration.

"Look, I know it sounds crazy but it needs to be done sooner or later. Jaune's just not fit to stay leader forever, he's going to slip up and get someone killed."

"Why are you doing this Mina? He's our brother; we should have faith that he'll do what's right." Mina shook her head.

"I'm not saying that he won't do his best but just because he's trying doesn't mean he should stay as group leader."

"So what? Should we just make you group leader then? Is that what you want?" Helena leaned in and asked furiously.

"You're not listening to me Helena, that's not what I want, I'm just saying that Jaune shouldn't be responsible for all of this, his accountably will break him." Mina replied rubbing one eye.

"Look all I'm asking is; if Jaune ever shows signs of getting burned out from this don't coddle him tell him the truth that he needs to stop." Mina put her hand on Helena's hand which was balled into a fist on the table, Helena exhaled.

"Fine if that ever happens I'll say something." Helena finally said and Mina nodded.

"I knew you'd make the right choice." Mina said as she stood up and went looking for Qrow. Helena continued to sit there and stared at the table. Unbeknownst to the two Arc sisters, Weiss had been listening to the tail end of their conversation.

* * *

 **Twenty Minutes Later…**

Qrow, Sun and Karen stood outside an apartment door across the hallway from where they were staying. Karen watched the staircase as lookout for anyone coming up while Sun watched Qrow checking the door knob out.

"So, you think you can open it?" Sun asked but the older man grunted in response.

"Maybe but I'll need some hair or paper clips if not that a credit card might work."

"Are you even sure it's locked?" Karen asked but Qrow snorted.

"Obviously it's locked, why wouldn't it be?" Karen walked over to stand next to Sun.

"I don't know maybe the previous tenants left it unlocked when they fled the city?"

"That's…" Qrow didn't finish as Karen stepped forward and turned the door knob. The door swung open with a small creek from the hinges.

"Well, shall we?" Karen asked as she looked at Qrow who could hear Sun trying not to laugh behind him.

"Yea, yea, yea." Qrow grunted as he walked past her. The apartment looked roughly the same as the one they were already in though the personal touches and furnishings looked much more worn out. Clothes and bags were littered on the floor along with shattered glassware.

"Man I'd hate to be whoever ends up in here." Sun remarked as he picked up a broken picture frame, loose glass falling to the floor with a crunch.

"Well try not to mess it up anymore, just look for anything good then bring it back." Qrow said as he headed towards the kitchen area. Karen and Sun split off into the rooms to check what was in them. It was long till they came out with nothing in their hands, Sun headed over to Qrow while Karen went into the bathroom.

"Anything good?" Sun asked as he walked closer to Qrow as he rummaged through the cabinets.

"Some pasta, a few cans of tomato meat sauce, Spam, and even a few eggs actually. Wow there's a lot of stuff in here actually. Why the hell is there so much left over?" Qrow wondered aloud.

"I think I have that answer." Karen called out and the two of them could she her holding up a dark stained towel.

"I think whoever lived here got robbed then was shot by whoever was robbing them. They must have left most of the stuff however when they shot the person so it would explain why there's a bunch of stuff left." Karen said as she tossed the towel back into the bathroom.

"Find anything else in there?" Sun asked and she held up a packet of toothpaste along with a bottle of ibuprofen.

"Nothing much, I see ya'll are having some luck." She noted and Sun nodded.

"Hello?" A new but familiar voice called out, Sun snapped his head towards the door. Standing there was none other than Neptune.

"Neptune?! What the fuck?" Sun asked as he walked over, the blue hair teen looked at the floor.

"Sup?" He asked before Sun socked him in the jaw, the blue hair teen fell backwards rubbing his chin.

"What the fuck was that for!?" Neptune called out but Sun grabbed him by the front of his shirt.

"For fucking going off to fuck some girl behind your girlfriend's back, you fucking moron." Sun growled as he held up another fist to strike but Karen restrained his arm.

"That's enough Sun, back off." She said tersely, Sun reluctantly let go of Neptune's shirt and backed away.

"Thanks Karen." Neptune said with a breath of relief but Karen spat to the side.

"Yea don't thank me, I just don't want to have to carry a dead body." Neptune groaned as he got to his feet.

"Look I fucked up I know that, is Weiss inside? I want to talk to her." Sun snorted.

"I don't know but I know Yang's in there and she's itching to see you again."

"Is she in there or not Sun?" Neptune asked again.

"Yes but you can't see her." Another voice spoke up from behind; they looked over to see Blake and Pyrrha standing at the door of their apartment.

"Why not?" Neptune asked but Blake crossed her arms.

"That's because she doesn't want to see you, not really surprising if you ask me."

"Come on Blake, can't I at least apologize for what I did?"

"What's the point? She doesn't want to see you and neither do I for that matter, hell I don't think there's anyone here save for maybe Sun that wants you in the group anymore." Neptune looked at Sun and Karen.

"So what? You guys are kicking me out? Pyrrha come on, talk some sense into them." Neptune asked turning towards the redhead.

"It was a majority vote. I'm sorry." She said not meeting his eyes.

"Did anyone vote against me getting kicked out besides you Pyrrha?" Neptune asked.

"Actually, Pyrrha didn't vote in your favor either." Blake said as a sneer grew on her face.

"Then who voted for me?" Neptune asked looking at Pyrrha again.

"Ren and Jaune." She said but Neptune didn't respond at first.

"Jaune?" He asked and she nodded.

"Yes." Neptune didn't say anything again as he looked at the floor, Pyrrha could see that he was clenching his fists.

"Fine." He said softly.

"Fine?" Sun echoed and Neptune turned to look at him dispassionately.

"I'll leave."

"Neptune wait, Jaune suggested that if you do leave that you can at least take some stuff for yourself. We don't want to leave you with nothing." Pyrrha called out but Neptune didn't respond as he headed down the stairs ignoring her.

"Well, good riddance." Karen said as she headed back inside the other apartment leaving Sun, Blake and Pyrrha in the hallway.

"I don't think he's coming back." Sun was the first to speak up.

"I've known Neptune for a long time but I can tell when he's serious about something and what I saw was pure contempt."

"I still don't understand how this all happened." Pyrrha mused aloud.

"It's because of Jaune." Blake said quietly.

"What about Jaune? What does he have to do with anything?" Pyrrha asked looking at the raven hair girl.

"You already know about the history between Jaune and Weiss right?" Blake asked looking at her, Pyrrha nodded.

"I heard that Jaune tried to ask Weiss out a lot but she always rejected him."

"Which is all true but as of late Jaune and her reconciled their differences. Along with that Jaune has changed physically over the last year from the lanky awkward guy he was before. I say the only one with a better looking body is Sun but that's just personal taste." Blake said gesturing to a grinning Sun who gave two thumbs up and started to flex.

"I swear if you say anything about bringing your guns out I'm throwing you down the stairs." Blake said making Sun pause in his flexing then he stood up straight and rubbed his nose with one finger.

"You know you like it."

"I'll show you how much you like it now go back inside and help Karen." Blake said waving him away, Sun chuckled as he left the two girls in the hallway.

"See? You should try that with Jaune, I reckon it would be awesome to see his reaction." Blake said as she turned to face Pyrrha, her cheeks turning pink at the thought but she shook her head.

"What do you think Neptune's gonna do now? Will he come back later?" She asked but Blake shrugged.

"I'm not sure; Sun's the only person that knows him best even more so than Weiss despite the two of them dating. So when he says that he's not coming back I would take that seriously then." Pyrrha hummed a little.

"So when do you think you'll head out on a mission?" Blake asked but Pyrrha shrugged.

"I have no idea; I suppose the Government has enough on their plate in securing the city before having any of us do anything for them." Blake nodded.

"Fair enough but I can't help but feel a little apprehensive about you guys heading out." Pyrrha frowned and tilted her head a little.

"Well since we won't have to go with you that would be the first time the group's been split up like this. Even when Sun, Jaune, and Yang left to scout out Palmwood it was a onetime thing but now it'll be frequent which just maximize the amount of danger you'll face out there." Pyrrha put a hand on Blake's shoulder.

"Don't worry Blake we're all capable of taking care ourselves plus we're not supposed to spearhead any movement, we're more like a cleanup crew."

"That's true I suppose but I can't help but feel a little worried." Blake said as she toyed with a lock of her hair, Pyrrha nodded as well.

"I understand, I'm kind of scared as well but I trust everyone here to have my back as much as I would have theirs." Pyrrha said smiling at Blake who nodded.

"What are y'all talking about?" Nora's voice chimed in and they turned to see the orange hair girl.

"Oh we're just talking about what it'll be like on the Auxiliary missions." Pyrrha said as Nora stood next to her.

"I can't wait to get out there." Nora said.

"Why?" Blake asked leaning forward to look at her.

"I don't know I sort of hate being cooped up in here, like I find it hard to sleep or just relax." Nora said rubbing her chin.

"Really? I remember I slept like a baby our first night here." Blake remarked.

"Don't babies wake up crying at night a lot?" Pyrrha pointed out, Blake gave her a deadpanned stare while Nora snickered.

"That's not the point, anyways, what's up with you Nora? Why are you so anxious?" Blake asked turning back towards Nora who just shrugged.

"I don't know I just am." Pyrrha put on hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Don't worry I'm sure you'll get used to it someday."

* * *

 **Elsewhere…**

The mauled face of a woman loomed into view briefly before shattering into a cloud of blood and bone fragments. The body slumped to the floor as he passed over it holding his Bootleg Model 1887 in one hand as he pushed forward into the dark hallway of the house.

The floor boards above him creaked and he could hear the rapid thuds of something running, sweat beaded his neck as he stood his ground and held the shotgun in both hands. He was glad that he taped a small flashlight to the side of the weapon otherwise he wouldn't have been able to see in the dark house.

In the small circle of illumination the figure of a man appeared barreling at him in a full sprint. The guttural moans that echoed down the hallways sent shivers of fear down his back but he pulled the trigger.

The flash and boom of the shotgun lingered in his senses but panning the flashlight down he could see the zombie writhing on the floor. Working the lever he fired another shell into it before pressing forward.

The air was stuffy from the fired ammunition and stench of blood. Turning the corner he could see the faint light that seeped out from under what he assumed was the back door.

Spotting the vague silhouette of a vase nearby, he picked it up with his left hand and went towards the back door. Pushing aside the blinds that covered it, he could see that the backyard was completely empty. Tucking the shotgun under his left arm he opened the door then faced inwards again.

Gripping his weapon with his right hand he threw the vase he was holding down onto the floor, it shattered loudly. If anything else was still in the house he would at least have an exit to his back if it became too difficult to manage.

Luckily for him nothing responded in or outside of the house. Though he wasn't really surprised, it was a fairly spread out town he found himself in that was nearly a full day's ride from Laredas which was the last large city before he reached the Glenn Mountain Range. It should have meant that it was easy to avoid some of the undead but it seemed that as luck would have it he would still encounter a few of them.

How the undead managed to get here in the first he had no idea. As he stepped into the backyard and pulled down the scarf that covered half of his face it occurred to him that it there was no reason to try and ponder that as he still didn't know how they came about in the first place.

When everything went to shit in Vale he ended up getting stuck in his workplace. It wasn't until a day later when he made some makeshift weapons that he was able to fight his way to his bike and head home.

There he had waited another day for his family in case they were still in the city. As the undead started to get more aggressive around where he lived, he knew that the time to leave was upon him.

Writing a note for his family in case they came home, he packed up everything he would need, food, water, some left over medical supplies, along with two changes of clothes and weapons. He finally left on his Honda Gold Wing and drove eastward. He wasn't sure why he wanted to go east but he reckoned that it would be better than staying still.

Three days into his journey he could already tell that things were even worse than he feared. As he came upon a town that had been put to the torch, literally as he could see the glow of fires at night as he travelled.

In the following morning when he went to investigate he found that with the absence of normal society, people had already regressed to barbaric bandits that killed each other.

In particular was the small clearing amidst a cluster of buildings where a line of people had apparently stood. Most of them must have been killed since there were more bodies than gaps between them.

Not wanting to dwell anymore amongst the dead he continued on his travels. At first he had wanted to go after whoever killed those people but it became distressingly clear that he should in fact stay clear of them.

If he headed down that road of vengeance and his own personal justice then he would probably never return from it.

Shaking his head he looked around the backyard to see a hose. Peeling off his scarf, his travel backpack, along with his black Condor Modular Chest Set that he picked up at a friend's shop, he finally was able to get down to his bare torso.

Turning on the faucet he was glad to see that water started to pour out. Not wanting to waste any time he quickly douse himself with the cold water, the refreshing feeling was better than nothing as he had gone a few days without shower in his sweaty gear.

Once he tended to his equipment, the sun overhead slowly dried and warmed him up again under its gaze. As the wind started to kick up, a certain scent traveled with it.

It was the scent of smoke.

Quickly putting his clothes and gear back on he looked towards the south. In the distance he could see a small trail of smoke rising to the sky.

Looking down he double checked his Model 1887 along with his thigh holstered Kahr CW40 that he picked up after losing his M1911 earlier. He made his way back to the front of the house and onto the street where his Gold Wing was sitting.

As he hopped then slipped his gold colored helmet on he looked down the street and fear passed down his spine. A group of figures were running towards him, switching the bike on he spun it around and headed in the opposite direction.

However there were more people in front of him. Pulling the Model 1887 from his side he held it up with one hand and fired at the closest figure.

It was a man in a torn, bloody track suit with a missing arm and a mauled face. The shotgun blast however snatched him off his feet but he didn't see what happened next as he already zoomed past him. Spinning the weapon in one hand, working the lever action, he aimed to his left and fired again at a woman who was coming into his path.

More figures started to appear and he cursed silently to himself. Tucking the shotgun away, he gripped the handlebars with both hands and leaned forward as he swerved back and forth between the oncoming mass of undead.

As he cleared the initial crowd he had to swerve right in a tight turn as he nearly crashed into a two cars that had been left abandoned on the street. Looking behind him he could see dozens of undead creatures sprinting after him.

It was a chilling sight, the flayed and mutilated bodies of people running after him. An affront to everything he knew about the world and nature.

It made him wonder what else was in store for Humanity; shaking his head he turned his attention back to the road. He needed to find one of the larger cities; there he may be able to get a better idea of what was going on.

After what seemed like forever he looked over his shoulder again, the horde of undead was nowhere to be seen but he still didn't feel safe. So he continued driving out of the town, he didn't even remember the name of it now as he put as much distance as he could between him and it.

It wasn't much longer till he finally pulled over to the side of the road. Looking around him he couldn't see anything save for grass and trees in the distance.

Stepping off the bike he checked again for any signs of movement or life then looked towards the sky again trying to find the column of smoke from before but he had lost it.

With a heavy sigh he sat down on the warm asphalt of the road. Taking his helmet off he ran a hand through his hair, he needed to find his daughters but he had no idea where they were. For all he knew they could still be in Vale.

With a groan of frustration he clenched his fist and pressed it against his forehead. He took a deep breath then released it slowly, there was no use in getting anger but he hated himself for not going to them as soon as he realized something was off.

He sighed again as he reached into his pants and pulled out his wallet. While it served no real practical purpose for him, he couldn't leave it behind as it held something important.

Opening it, he pulled out a small picture of a woman with shoulder length black hair that ended in red tips. She stood smiling at the camera with her hands behind her back wearing a white summer dress that he had bought her a few months into their relationship.

"I'll find them Summer, I promise you I will."

* * *

 **Later That Night**

Neo sat on the low brick wall by the highway in the darkness of night watching the stars. It was peaceful that much she had to admit, the lack of city lights and noise made it feel like she was almost alone in the world.

However it was not the suffocating loneliness that one might expect from such a concept. No, this silence she felt was that of a mind and spirit cleansing experience.

To think and explore the inner feelings that a person might have feel about what they're in.

She couldn't help but snicker a little at these thoughts she was having, at how silly they sounded. Leaning back she stretched her arms over her head.

Nearby the sound of people talking could be heard and she looked over to see Roman walking with half a dozen people come into view as they headed towards the overpass.

She wasn't sure what he was talking about but whatever it was it must have been important. As each of those people was writing stuff down on paper or notepads as they walked behind him.

With a little hope she got off the wall and started to walk over to him with her hands behind her back. Looking to her left she could see the building where the rocket had struck a night ago, it felt strange that had that rocket been aimed a little lower then it could have easily killed her.

In fact she felt that it was sort of funny how easily people could get killed. There were so many things that can kill them yet the population of the planet had been in the billions. Though now it could be much less, she wasn't sure since the dead started to rise and attack the living.

She had serious doubts though that less than a billion hadn't already been killed either by the undead or other humans.

Civilization and its rules meant nothing in the grand scheme of things. As when push comes to shove for any person, they'll kill each other just as soldiers on the battlefield.

On a side note she did overhear some radio chatter that apparently Mountain Glenn was becoming a new staging area along with Beacon for the Army. Along with that even Atlas was finally throwing its weight around.

About time she figured that Atlas had finally gotten off its fat, rich, arrogant ass and done something useful for a change. As Neo got closer to Roman who was holding a lantern out over the highway, she could hear the frustration in his voice.

"I want scouts to start mapping the road ahead of us by at least a day's worth of driving. While that's going on we'll need to adjust the guard shifts as those marauders know where we are and we can't leave yet with our injured. Along with that we'll need to rig some strategic points on the main avenues of approach to the motel. Those Molotov's from the bikers did a number on the motel's front entrance; it was just by a stroke of luck that the entire fucking place didn't go up in flames. I also want a new inventory stock on how much supplies we have left." Roman said as he turned to face the assembled group but no one made a move or said again.

"GO!" He shouted and the group scattered leaving Perry and Neo standing there.

"Ah, Neo I see you decided to join us." Roman said sardonically as he turned to lean against the railings of the overpass, she just shrugged.

"Fair enough." Roman said as he looked at Perry.

"Anything you wanna tell me?" Roma asked.

"Yes sir, Ashkelon returned earlier with a report saying that she was able to track down some of the survivors of the attack. They fled to the north east, she said it seemed like they were meeting up with a much larger group."

"Did she get any numbers?" Roman asked.

"Yes sir, she said that there was at least several dozen maybe more but it was difficult to tell as they were had vehicles coming and going." Roman nodded as he rubbed his chin.

"Weapons?" Perry nodded as he opened a small notebook.

"She said that they were well equipped on firepower, I'll compile a detailed list of what she told me and have it delivered to you in a few hours." Roman nodded.

"Good job Perry, pass my compliments onto Ashkelon when you see her." Perry left leaving Roman and Neo on the overpass.

"God this is so fucking tiresome, but I suppose the show must go on." Roman said as he lighted up a cigar.

"I know what you're thinking but no we can't head to one of the cities yet. If anything we'll need to go to ground or bunker down here for a while before we make another move." Roman said as he puffed on his cigar then turned to Neo.

"Actually there's something I need you to help me with tonight." Neo folded her arms causing Roman to laugh.

"No, not that though if you want that can be happen as well." He said as he laughed but Neo didn't show any signs of amusement so he coughed awkwardly into his fist.

"Anyways, I do have something that I know you enjoy as much as a good fuck." Neo rolled her eyes as she followed him back to the motel. The building had suffered a bit of damage in the fighting.

Most of the front side was riddled with pocket marks, black scorching and all the windows were shattered. Soldiers and civilians worked under filling random sacks and pillowcases with dirt to be used as makeshift sandbags.

Once inside the main lobby Neo could see a few foldable racks set up with the wounded laying on them. People with medical training were milling around them while a few soldiers stood as guards nearby in case someone was infected.

Roman continued to lead Neo through a staff only door till they reached the kitchen. Once there she could see four soldiers standing outside two meat lockers.

She realized what he meant now.

"Malsky, how are our guests?" Roman asked and a burly man with a thick beard turned to look at them.

"They're just cooling off sir; it was pretty warm outside today." The other three chuckled at that and Neo could feel a smile growing on her face.

"Good on you for taking care of them Malsky, are they awake? I would like to have a quick, chat, with them." Roman asked and Malsky gestured for one of the others to open the closest meat locker.

Neo followed Roman and Malsky inside. She could see her breath steaming in front of her face inside as a shiver of cold air touched her bare neck.

Roman and Malsky stepped to the side for her. Neo's smile took on a whole new direction as she saw shirtless battered man chained to a chair.

"Hello, friend, having fun? I hope you find your room to be your liking but if you want to switch you can but only after you have a nice little chat with me about some stuff I want to know." Roman asked as he stepped towards the man, gripping his jaw and forcing him to look up.

"Fuck…off…" The man groaned and Roman smiled before grabbing a handful of the man's hair then hit him in the face with a fist.

"Now that wasn't very nice, I play host to your friends, even giving them some of our supplies then you come back and try to kill us. I think we're owed something, don't you?" Roman asked before hitting the man in the sternum with his fist.

"D-d-do what you…want…scum." The man wheezed out, Roman held a hand to his chest in mock pain.

"Scum? We're scum? I don't think you're listening to me, I never wanted to fight you, and I wasn't the one to come crawling at night with guns and firebombs to where you were sleeping. I think you've got your priorities mixed up." Roman said before back handing the man.

"You…betrayed…your oaths." The man said after a moment of groaning.

"Oh come on, this can't be about us deserting the Army?! If that was what it was really about you wouldn't be slaughtering other people as well, don't think I don't know about you people slaughtering that town in the north. So don't say that high horse morale bullshit to me anymore." Roman sneered as he punched in him the jaw again.

"Now tell me what I want to you or I'm going to hand you over to my friend here." Roman snarled grabbing a handful of the man's hair and forcing him to look at Neo who just smiled as she waved at him.

"Now tell me, how many people do you have, what kind of weapons and what do you plan on doing?" Roman asked again but the man said nothing, Roman sighed as he stood up straight and looked at Neo.

"Time to shine my dear." Roman said as he stepped back and did a small bow. Neo felt elation pass down her spine as she pulled a knife from her boot. The man paled as she stepped close and lightly trailed the flat side of the blade down his cheek and torso. Then she grabbed his index finger on his left hand and looked at Roman.

"Last chance." He said but the man shut his eyes, he trembled violently breathing rapidly through his nose. Roman nodded towards Neo and she slowly dug the tip of the knife under the man's finger nail. With a twist and pull the nail broke off completely from his finger, he started to shake even more and barely managed to keep his mouth closed as he yelled in pain.

"She's going to keep doing that if you don't tell me something." Roman said but the man didn't reply, Neo looked at him again and he nodded again. She began to slowly remove each nail on his left hand, this time the man screamed openly in pain.

Roman did his best to avoid watching, Malsky had already left the meat locker to stand outside again. Soon Neo stepped away, wiping the blood stained tip of her knife against her pants.

"I'm going to go have a smoke break, so I'll leave you here with my friend. If you have anything you want to say just give out a shout and we'll talk." Roman said as he clenched his cigar in his mouth, leaving Neo alone with the chained up man.

She circled him again, trailing the tip of her knife against his torso lightly enough to avoid cutting him but enough that he knew it was there.

As she stood in front of him again, she could see that he was shutting his eyes in pain no doubt. A wicked smile grew on her face as she leaned in close and reached out to grab an eyelid. The man tried to pull his head away but there was no escaping her.

Lifting the eyelid up, she could see his frantic, dilated eye watched her, the sheer terror in it making heat blossom in her stomach as she soon began to rub her legs together. Raising the knife high, she slowly pressed the tip again the eyelid she held.

The man started to panic again as she put more and more pressure till the tip of the knife broke through the eye lid. He started to screaming again as she pulled the knife down, slicing the eyelid in two.

"NOOO! I'LL TALK, FOR FUCK SAKES I'LL TALK!" He started to scream loudly and Neo pouted as Roman entered again, a wide smile on his face.

"Ah! I see my friend has convinced you, I know, I know, she's a talker this one." Roman said as he stood next to the man.

"Now friend, what have you got to tell me?" The man panted as he looked up at him.

"There are a few hundred of us but the main group is a gang called the Tribe, I don't know who the leader is but I know it's a woman. We got a lot of our weapons from raiding abandoned police stations and an abandoned military base; I think it was near Bridgeport. That's all I know, I swear." Roman hummed as he rubbed his chin in thought then nodded.

"Alright then, thank you for the information." The man laughed in relief.

"Does this mean you'll let me go?" He asked and Roman seemed to think about it then nodded.

"Yea why not, I'll release you from my custody." The man smiled but Roman looked at Neo.

"Neo, he's all yours." Neo's smile returned as the man paled visibly.

"Wait!? I told you what you wanted to know! COME BACK!" The man started to scream as Roman walked out of the meat locker leaving alone Neo with him.

His screaming would only last for an hour.

* * *

 **I guess Neo has been having a pretty good time as of late, nothing like some good ol' fashion torture.**

 **And what's this? A stranger has appeared, I wonder who it could be?**

 **As for our main group has Neptune left them for good and what might happen with Cardin?**

 **Sorry for taking so long to get a chapter out, I was in Canada for a few weeks and I couldn't think of what to write then school started again so that's just been impeding my work.**

 **Though I do try to keep an update progress on how the chapters are coming along on my profile in case you're ever curious.**

 **On a side note the next Lost Son Chapter should be out in a day or two so be on the look out for that.**

 **As always please feel free to leave your thoughts or opinions on this chapter as I always enjoy reading them and I do try to take what you tell me to heart in order to help improve my work. If you don't want to to post on the story then feel free to PM me and I'll be happy to have a conversation with you about whatever it is you have on your mind.**

 **Till Next Time!**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Jaune slowly opened his eyes and for a second he felt as if he was home. Joy filled his heart at the thought of seeing his father in the kitchen making breakfast after having woken up an hour before him to start his day.

Sitting up in the bed he looked around, reality set in once more as he looked around the room. Nothing in the room was familiar nor could he smell the aroma of food anymore, light rain fall tapped rhythmically against the window as the sounds of helicopters could be heard in the distance.

For some reason Jaune couldn't help but feel the telltale signs of tears growing as his eyes stung a little. Rubbing them with the back of his hand he lay back down on the bed and stared at the ceiling.

How long had he been out? He couldn't quite tell as it was still light out but he didn't recall seeing any clouds earlier.

As he swung his legs off the bed he couldn't help but notice that most of the bed felt really warm, which wouldn't be odd since he just got up. What was strange however was the fact that it was a king size bed, sighing he stood up, questions for later he supposed.

Walking over to the window he raised the blinds and slid open the window. A cool breeze washed over him, tiny drops of rain already hitting him before he leaned out.

The sky had turned grey once more with very low cloud coverage that it felt as is the sky was falling down on them.

Mountain Glenn however bustled with activity even now, he could see that more lights were on in the neighborhood. Earlier aside from the street lamps, most of the buildings in the area seemed empty save for a few sporadic windows that were lighted up; there was a knock at the door behind him.

"Jaune?" Pyrrha's voice called out and he turned to see the red head peeking in through the door.

"Oh, you're up finally. Mina asked me to come and see if you were awake yet." She said and Jaune shrugged.

"Well I'm awake though I wouldn't mind getting some more sleep." Pyrrha tilted her head a small smile emerging on her face.

"I'm surprised you're still tired after all of that but considering what the last week has been like I'm not surprised." Jaune twitched his head a little.

"After all what? Wait, actually, how long have I been asleep?" Jaune asked and Pyrrha tapped her bottom lip a few times.

"About a day, more or less a few hours I suppose."

"A day?! Why didn't anyone wake me up?" Pyrrha pushed open the door all the way then shrugged as she walked over to the bed and sat on it.

"I don't know. Weiss came in to check up on you earlier and said that we should just let you sleep a little longer so we just did." Pyrrha explained Jaune rubbed his face with one hand.

"Well that's a thing then." Jaune said aloud and Pyrrha tilted her head with a look of confusion on her face.

"I don't get it Jaune, why are you so upset about sleeping for that long?" Jaune thought about it for a moment.

"I don't know it's not about me sleeping for too long. Look, I'm up and that's all that matters now." Jaune nodded slowly as she gave him a quizzical look, Jaune sighed.

"So what's there to eat? Did you guys find anything in the other apartments?" Jaune asked as Pyrrha stretched herself out on the bed. Jaune couldn't help but notice the way she arched her back before quickly standing up.

"They picked up a couple of things but most of the stuff they find they left alone." She said as she followed Jaune out of the room. In the main area Jaune could see Weiss, Blake, Helena, and Ruby all sitting around.

"Looks like sleeping beauty finally woke up." Helena called out and she looked at Pyrrha.

"So did you kiss him awake?"

"W-W-What?! Helena why would you even think that?" Jaune sputtered as he looked between her and Pyrrha whose face looked to be turning the same color as her hair.

"Don't tease them like that; they look like they're going to die of embarrassment." Weiss said.

"Actually I think you shouldn't stop, this is kind of entertaining to watch." Blake chimed in with Ruby nodding along.

"Whatever, so did everyone eat breakfast yet?" Jaune asked as he turned towards the kitchen area and noticed there were various items placed on the kitchen table. Walking over he could see a sheet of paper lying on top of everything.

Picking it up he began to read it and saw that someone had counted out everything already. There was twelve cans of pasta sauce, three packs of elbow noodles; three loafs of bread, milk, juice, eggs, Band-Aids, antibiotic ointment, various types of batteries, a flashlight, and even a few clothes.

"I see you guys did find a few things, but why the clothes?" Jaune asked as he picked up a flannel shirt and turned it over in his hands.

"Come on Jaune, do you really have to ask that?" Weiss asked and Jaune gave a blank look before shrugging. Before she could say anything the front door open and Karen walked in.

"Is Jaune awake?" She asked.

"I'm here Karen." Jaune called out and the older lady walked into view.

"Jaune there's someone here to meet you."

"Who?" He asked but she shrugged.

"I don't ask her name but it's some young kid that says she's from the Army." Jaune set the flannel down.

"Yea I should probably go see her then." Jaune followed Karen out of the room, Pyrrha looked at the others.

"You think it's serious?" She asked but neither of them said anything at first.

"Well we don't have to worry about all having to go if that's what you're asking." Blake said but Pyrrha shook her head.

"That's not a problem for me since I'm still on the rotation of whose going. I'm just curious about why the Army sent someone over here."

"Pyrrha there's nothing to worry about I'm sure Jaune and Uncle Qrow can deal with whatever it is." Ruby said from underneath a blanket she had wrapped around herself.

"Yea, what's the worst thing that could happen?" Weiss started to say but Blake threw a pillow at her.

"Hey!"

"Don't jinx us!" Blake snapped back and Weiss threw the pillow back at her but Blake leaned forward and the pillow struck Helena.

"Uh, girls?" Pyrrha said but no one listened to her as the four of them started to throw pillows at each other. Helena threw a pillow at Pyrrha; catching it she looked down at it and sighed. If you can't beat them, join them.

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

Jaune made it to the ground floor of the apartment; standing at the double door entrance was Qrow, Sun, Ren, and Nora. There was an extra person that Jaune didn't recognize, a shorter woman in the Valean Army Combat Uniform.

She was carrying a rather large pack on her back and Jaune couldn't help but notice the rifle strapped to the side. She had navy blue hair and blue eyes which zeroed in on him as she snapped a crisp salute.

"Sergeant Ciel Soleil, reporting!" She said loudly, Jaune glanced at the others who simply shrugged.

"Uh, well, uh, hi?" Jaune said then realized that she was still saluting him and he gave a half-baked salute of his own. She promptly lowered her arm then stood with her legs barely shoulder apart and her hands behind her back.

"So…Sergeant, what exactly are you doing here?" Jaune asked after no one said anything.

"My apologies sir, here are my papers." She said as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a stack of folded papers. Jaune took them and began to look them over and vaguely understood what was going on.

"So…you're here to act as a liaison for us with the Army?" He asked and she nodded.

"Yes it was decided that all Auxiliary groups would be assigned a select number of military personnel that would either assist or facilitate a proper logistical structure. On top of that, I'm supposed to tell you as of now Jaune Arc, since you're all now recognized as an Auxiliary Unit you'll now be regard as a Commissioned Officer and will bare all the duties and responsibilities of that position." She pulled out a second stack of papers and handed them to Jaune.

"Congratulations Captain." Jaune blinked as he read and reread the paper then turned it over expecting to see something that would indicate that it was false.

"So when you say all of us, you really mean all of us?" Qrow asked and the shorter girl nodded.

"Yes Sir, Senator Winchester was the one to push that idea. He said it would help foster better unity amongst the regular Army and the Auxiliaries if the Auxiliary Commanders were official looked upon as Officers." Ciel clarified.

"Has an incident already happened to warrant this?" Ren asked and the Ciel shook her head.

"Not that I'm aware of but even then that isn't something I would know." Jaune scratched his chin as he tucked the papers into his own pants pocket.

"Alright, so there are plenty of rooms here. I can show you around so you can find someplace to stay." Jaune gestured towards the stairs.

"Actually, if you don't mind showing me where the manager's office is, I'll stay there."

"You sure?" She nodded.

"Yes sir, while I'm here to help you I'm technically not within your command but I'll do my best to stay out of your way." Ciel explained.

"Fair enough but the manager's room isn't the most spacious so if you ever want, we can give you an apartment. We're all staying in the same one at the moment." She smiled slightly and shook her head again.

"Thank you sir but this arrangement is fine." Jaune nodded and gestured her to follow him.

"So what do you guys think?" Qrow was the first to ask as soon as Jaune and Ciel were out of sight.

"What's there to think? We have a liaison chick." Sun said but Ren shook his head.

"No I think he's asking why it was necessary to send one now. From my understanding we would have handled our business with the Army directly but now we have to go through another person who'll get the items on our behalf."

"Oh."

"Do you think Cardin has something to do with this? She did say that Senator Winchester was the one who pushed for this." Nora asked but no one had an answer to that. The thought that Cardin's dad indeed was influencing or pushing things to spite them on behalf of his son was unnerving.

"It makes you wonder what this guy this like." Sun said after moment.

"If I remember anything I believe it's the fact that he's a determined and iron-willed individual." Qrow spoke up and everyone looked at him.

"The Policeman's Ball last year, I'm pretty sure we talked a little back then. He was just coming out of a scandal in which some journalist was teasing that he had some evidence on the Senator buying police officers. The guy disappeared and the News outlets who had been running crazy with the story all went silent after that point. Anyways he didn't have a care in the world of the allegations of his corruption nor of the disappearance of the journalist. He knows the game and he's very good at it."

"So…are we fucked or not?" Sun asked after a moment.

"Probably."

* * *

 **Later That Night…**

Jaune was sitting in the living room with everyone, except Mina who had gone out for some reason. He was sipping on some canned soup that he had heated up. Yang sat to his left while Pyrrha was on his right but at this point he stopped caring about their competition.

He couldn't help but remember the dream he had earlier. For some reason it just kept playing over and over in his head. Why his mind was doing that he wasn't sure but for now his mental state could take a backseat to his other concerns.

"So, there's now another person living with us. Her name is Ciel Soleil, think of her as our landlord. Except we don't pay rent and anything we need that the Military has we have to ask her to get for us." Jaune said as he set the bowl he had been eating out of down on the table.

"Also, Jaune's now a Captain." Nora added which earned him looks of surprise by those that weren't there.

"Really?" Weiss asked and Jaune nodded.

"It seems that the Valean Military has all but been stripped to the bone in terms of manpower and resources. So until a time in which they can let the volunteered civilians like us go I'll now technically be an enlisted Officer of the Valean Army." Jaune looked towards Qrow.

"Soleil also told me that we'll be receiving an additional service member that will join us. The official reason she gave me is because they want experienced officers or NCOs in the Auxiliary groups." Jaune said.

"What's the unofficial reason?" Qrow asked.

"They've shoehorned a lot of inexperienced soldiers in the roles of commissioned and noncommissioned officer roles. So they're using most of the Auxiliary groups to essentially be their testing zones for them, some will move on and others won't." Jaune said as he stretched his back.

"Does that mean we'll have someone else commanding us or something?" Ruby asked but Jaune shook his head.

"No, since I've been given the rank of Captain that means I'm a commissioned officer in charge of us or our group, so only someone of equal rank or higher can order me around which was going to be the case anyways. Now though we'll at least have a trained professional to give us pointers when we need it." Ruby looked like she was still confused but she nodded nonetheless.

"On another note, we've got our first job." Jaune said as he stood up and went over to the liquor cabinet. Taking a White Horse bottle then headed over towards the kitchen where he poured himself a nearly full glass cup worth of the whiskey. Pyrrha narrowed her eyes as she saw him knocking back nearly half of it in one gulp.

"Ahhh, anyways, Army wants us to head north about forty miles up the I-228. There's a rest stop and an observatory that they want us to take a look at. So I'm thinking three of you will come with me when we head out."

"So we're just going to make sure they're safe?" Ren asked and Jaune nodded.

"Yup Soleil said that we're supposed to just verify that they're clear of any signs of infection or bandits. Anything of note needs to be marked then stored where the Army can pick up after we report in."

"And if they're not clear?" Sun asked.

"That depends, if it's a minor presence then we try clearing it out ourselves. If that proves to be too difficult or there's a much larger presence than anticipated then we'll come back." Jaune replied.

"So who's going?" Blake asked and Jaune pointed to himself.

"I'll be going, so who else wants to come? Four of us should be enough."

"I'll go with you." Pyrrha was the first to speak up.

"Oh! Oh! So are we!" Nora said quickly, raising Ren's arm for him.

"Well I guess that's settled." Jaune said as he finished the glass, setting it down he rubbed one eye as he say at the kitchen table.

"When are we leaving?" Ren asked.

"In the morning and before you ask I think it's best to get your gear together tonight instead of doing it in the morning also we'll be taking Grand Cherokee. Well, if that's cool with you Sun?"

"It's not a problem dude."

"Alright then, Pyrrha, Ren, Nora, other than that, you should all go to sleep early tonight, we'll have a long day tomorrow." Jaune said as he pulled out more papers that Soleil had given him to read. Jaune hated it already as most of it was just repeating what the first set of papers said when he picked those up.

There were a few key or at least interesting facts. The first being that it seemed that more people had joined the Auxiliary Corp as the paper indicated.

As not only did it list their new identification which was the 1st Auxiliary Company, but it also gave basic information on where to find and who to talk with in the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 12th, 16th, 21st, and 22nd Auxiliary Companies. With at least another twelve freelance squads with names taken from the Military phonetic alphabet.

The inventory point system was still being kept but now Jaune felt that the possibility for competition of securing supplies might become an issue. Which normally he would think that would be ridiculous but given what's going on he wouldn't put it past someone to try to steal supplies captured by others for their own gain.

He sipped from the glass cup; the burning sensation was a welcoming as he continued to read.

"Jaune?" He looked up to see Pyrrha standing above him for some reason she looked worried.

"What's up Pyr?" He asked and now he could see her face go a little red then he realized what he said.

"Shit, I'm sorry. I was just thinking of the nickname Nora told me a little while ago that she had for your name. You know like how she calls me Jauney or Ren becomes Renny or sometimes Ren Bear. Though that last one I'm pretty sure she only uses when she wants something. Which I won't get into detail but I wouldn't want to be around those two when that happens." Jaune started to ramble but Pyrrha held up a hand stopping him as she pulled up a chair next to him.

"Jaune, why are you drinking this?" She asked in a serious tone as she indicated to the White Horse bottle on the table.

"I just sort of felt like it after remembering have a little with Qrow, it's not bad once you're used to it. It actually kind of has a pleasant burn once you realize what you're getting into." Jaune said as he began to pour himself a few fingers worth of the amber liquid.

"Are you okay?" She asked and Jaune nodded.

"I'm fine, why do you ask?" He said looking at her, he couldn't help but feel a little memorized at her eyes. A part of him wanted to say that but he knew that wouldn't be the smart or proper thing to say at the moment.

Pyrrha stood up and walked out of sight briefly then returned with a glass of her own. Jaune watched as she poured a little into her cup.

She brought it up to her nose and Jaune could see it wrinkling at the smell of the substance. The only thing he could think was how fucking adorable she looked when she did that.

Pyrrha took a small sip then quickly covered her mouth with her fingers to keep her from spitting it back up. Jaune could see her face flushing a little before she finally took her hand away, a look of distaste evident on her face.

"You were right; it does burn when you drink it." Jaune chuckled as he tipped his glass back then set it aside. Pyrrha slowly began to sip her cup again; he could see her face scrunching up as she drank it.

"You don't have to drink this you know that right?" She nodded.

"I know but I'd rather have you drinking with someone then alone."

"Why?"

"Because you exude sadness when you did earlier and that's nothing something I wanted to see." She said and Jaune chuckled.

"I'm sorry."

"You don't have to be sorry Jaune, that's why I came over to sit with you. Besides I'm sure the others would prefer that I keep you company instead of you sitting alone." Pyrrha said gesturing towards the other room. Ren, Nora, Ruby, Helena, Weiss, and Qrow were still in the main room though none of them were paying attention to them. As Nora had found a tucked away game of Uno which they were all playing.

"Yeaaaaa, I think they're going to be at that for a while but I think we should clear the room before Nora does anything." Jaune whispered and Pyrrha stared at him confused as to why he sounded nervous. Jaune unbeknownst to Pyrrha was having a flashback to freshman year when they had played a game of Monopoly with Nora.

She had become enraged by the board game after going bankrupt to Ren and had thrown the game into the ceiling as hard as she could. It took Ren and him nearly two hours to find all the pieces after she stormed off.

"What about these papers?" Pyrrha asked as she began to look at a few of them but Jaune snorted as he picked up the bottle and his glass.

"You can leave them; I can look them over another time." She shrugged as she stood up as well and the two of them got up to leave the apartment.

Yang however was standing by the doorway to her room the entire time. She had been watching Ruby play the card game with the others. She didn't join since most card games bored her, though Ruby and her Uncle knew that she enjoyed a good game of poker or Blackjack.

They also knew of her guilty pleasure of collecting Magic: The Gathering cards. She wished she had her Kaalia of the Vast deck with her, that beautiful demon, angel, dragon lady was so fucking badass.

When she saw Jaune and Pyrrha leaving however she felt a wave of despair wash over her. Seeing the two talking quietly to each other with smiles on their faces, on Jaune's face in particular made a lump appear in her throat.

She couldn't remember seeing him ever give her a smile with that much warmth and affection. She could remember the feeling of his lips on hers when she surprised him in the gas station.

But that was different; he didn't kiss her back with pleasure or passion. The only reason he hadn't broken it off sooner was due to the surprise of her move.

As the door closed behind the two teens, Yang had to start blinking hard as the lump in her throat grew.

Turning away from the door, she got into her bed and turned towards the wall as she tried to sleep. Despite that though, she wouldn't get a wink of sleep that night.

* * *

 **Elsewhere…**

"There's something I wanna show you." Jaune said as he led Pyrrha up a quick flight of stairs down the hallway from their room. Jaune opened a door and beckoned her through.

Stepping through the door she looked around and saw that they were on the rooftop of the apartment. Around them she could see various other buildings of the city with mountains in every direction she looked.

There was low cloud coverage but not low enough to obstruct her line of sight to the still alive city. Helicopters, car horns, and the sound of construction could be heard in the distance.

Yet despite all of that, she couldn't help but feel a little more at ease. It may have to do with the fact that whenever they had been outside there was the threat of being attacked by zombies or by crazy people like Cinder's group which was a constant threat.

"The clouds sort of ruin it but when I came up here earlier I reckoned that it would be a nice place to relax outside." Jaune said as he followed her out.

"I like it." Pyrrha said as she stepped towards the edge then sat on it facing him.

"Really?" Jaune asked and Pyrrha smiled or at least he assumed she did as it was a bit difficult to see in the dark.

"How did you get up here?" Pyrrha asked as Jaune sat next to her and poured a little more liquor in both of their glasses.

"I took a copy of the master keys which I found in the manager's office downstairs when I showed it to Soleil." Jaune explained before taking a sip from his glass.

"Ah."

"Yup." The two teens didn't say anything as they sipped on their glasses.

"So are you ready for tomorrow?" Jaune asked after a while.

"Yea I cleaned the Stag Model 10 and have seven magazines prepped. Oh! I also made sure to clean the SIG P226 out and I've got five magazines ready for it as well."

"No, no, I meant more, mentally ready."

"Oh." Pyrrha said before falling silent.

"I suppose you're as ready as anyone can be in these kinds of situations." Jaune said as he set his glass down, he didn't want to drink anymore as he didn't want to push his low limit.

"I don't know about that I've been feeling pretty terrified ever since this happened." Pyrrha said as she set down her own cup.

"Really?" Jaune asked looking at her in surprise and she nodded.

"Yup."

"Huh. Well color me surprised, I thought you were handling this far better than me."

"Now that's not something I can truly believe Jaune, you've been the most level headed out of all of us. We wouldn't even have made it out of Sanctum if it wasn't for you." Jaune chuckled as he looked down at his hands; he could remember the feeling of Yatsuhashi's rapidly cooling body lying still on the ground. He could almost feel the blood on his hands when he found Ren's mom, raped and murdered in her own house.

"I guess I was just hiding that fear too well for you to notice." He clenched and relaxed his hands.

"Well I'm here now and I know about it, just as you know of my fear." Pyrrha said softly as she put her hand in his. Their fingers closed around each other's hand and Jaune looked down then up to see Pyrrha looking at him. All he could think about was how close she was too him, the feeling of her hand in his and the coolness her hand radiated in contrast to his heat.

"And what do you fear Pyrrha Nikos." He said softly as she slid herself closer to him, her shoulder touching his.

"Well Jaune Arc, I'm…I'm afraid of being alone." She whispered, her voice like a low breeze that swept over him sending tingly feelings down his spine.

"To wake up one day and not find anyone I care for. To know that maybe one day I'll look up into the sky and realize that even with the infinite amount of stars in the sky I'm alone amongst them. My parents, as much as they loved me in their own way had all but abandoned me to live my life. I hated being at home as it stopped feeling like home a long time ago but now with Nora, Ren, Helena, Blake, Yang, Sun, Weiss, Ruby, Qrow, Karen, Mina and you. I've found what I've always wanted, a home, a family; they're people that I can love." Jaune wasn't sure what to say but as she looked at him, he could see her start to lean closer to him. Doing the only thing he could think of he started to lean towards her as well and the faces of the two teens finally closed in on each other.

Soon their fear and pain of the outside world was lost in a world of bliss and serenity that which neither have ever felt before.

* * *

 **The Next Morning…**

Pyrrha opened her eyes when she realized that something was different, the early morning light allowed her to look around and see that she was inside again. Though it didn't look like her room, or any of the other rooms of their apartment.

Turning her head right she was surprised to see Jaune lying next to her. That's when she realized what had happened last night between them and she wanted to squeal with delight.

Though another thought popped into her head and she looked down. She still had her clothes on which she was equal parts glad and disappointed.

That being said it seems that she and Jaune have taken the next stage of their relationship. Or maybe the next few stages but she didn't mind that at all.

Lying back down she turned to face him, his face looked very serene as he slept. Yet she couldn't help but notice that there was a small twitch or two that would appear.

It didn't last long as Jaune slowly began to open his eyes. He smiled as he realized that she was across from him.

"Morning." He said nonchalantly, though if Pyrrha had the ability to read minds she would hear him going crazy at seeing her on a bed with him.

"Morning." She said as she smiled back, a grin grew across his face and he looked up then over his shoulder.

"Where are we?" He asked as he looked back at her with a grin and she shrugged.

"I was wondering that myself, I think you probably led us here before we went to sleep after our time on the rooftop." Pyrrha said and she suddenly remembered what they had done on the rooftop. While nothing extreme, they still did a lot of kissing. Which made her look at his mouth with the urge of continuing where they had left off but she decided against that.

"Well, uh, so, uhhhhh, I think that's my new second favorite night of all time." Jaune said and Pyrrha grinned as she tilted her head a little confused.

"And what was your previous favorite second night?" Jaune rubbed his chin as a renewed smile grew on his face.

"Before that it was the night you kissed me in the forest before we got here." Pyrrha smiled and then a question popped into her mind.

"And what was your favorite night?" She asked out of curiosity.

"Easy, the night you said yes to come to hang out with me, Ren and Nora. It was the first time the two of us actual spent quality time outside of school." Jaune said quickly and Pyrrha felt heat rise up to her face as it blossomed in her chest. She gave him a quick peck on the cheek but before anything else could happen someone cleared their throat.

"Ahem." The two teens shot up from the bed and were surprised to see Mina standing at the doorway. She had a half amused and half exhausted smile on her face.

"God, you two are so cheesy with your love it makes me realize how shitty my own love life is." Mina's face then settled into a hard glare that she directed towards Jaune.

"You two didn't do anything I would need to beat you up for, did you?" Jaune shook his head.

"Nope." If Jaune had the ability to read minds then looked in on what was going on in Pyrrha's mind. Then he would have become lighted head at the scene she was thinking of involving the two of them.

"Good, doing that can have some serious consequences if you're not prepared, not only for you but all of us." Mina said her face leaving no room for discussion.

"Oh come on Mina, I know that." Jaune started to say but Mina cut him off.

"I'm not talking to you Jaune." Mina shifted her gaze at Pyrrha and Jaune watched as the two women had some sort of silent conversation.

"Ooookay then, Pyrrha we should start getting ready for later." Mina glanced at him.

"What about later?"

"We're going on a mission today." Pyrrha explained.

"Really? Already? I thought they said they wouldn't need us until they're ready to start pushing." Mina said as a frown took over her expression, Jaune shook his head.

"It looks like they're using us as both reconnaissance and some Auxiliary Companies and Squads are being used as test runs for their new officers."

"So what? We're guinea pigs?" Jaune shrugged.

"Maybe but we agreed to it so that's our orders." The three of them left the apartment to head across the hallway back to their apartment. Opening the door to it, Jaune was surprised to see that nearly everyone was awake and waiting for them.

"And where have you two been?" Helena asked as she eyed Jaune and Pyrrha.

"Uh…" Jaune said as he wasn't sure what to say and Pyrrha didn't say anything but her face did turn a little red as she smiled.

"I found these two sleeping together in one of the apartments." Mina casually said as she walked over to one of the couches and flopped down on it.

"What?!"

"Seriously?!"

"About time."

"IT'S HAPPENING!" As Nora, Blake, Helena and Weiss cried out. Sun dragged Ren with him as Sun slapped Jaune on his back and congratulated him. Nora, Weiss, Helena and Ruby were dancing around Pyrrha as they asked her various questions.

"How was it?" Blake asked

"What did you two do!?" Weiss demanded rather forcefully.

"How big was he?" Nora asked and Pyrrha's face went red much to the girls delight.

"It's big isn't it? Was it a Soda can, TV remote or a ruler?" Nora asked.

"Nora that's disgusting." Weiss reprimanded.

"You're right, don't tell us but just show us with your hands."

"Alright that's enough." Qrow called out, clapping his hands loudly.

"Leave the two lovebirds alone, they've got to get ready." Everyone dispersed and Jaune headed over to the kitchen table. Lying on it was their assembled gear; Jaune picked up his vest then slipped it on, double checking the straps, picked up a walkie talkie before filling the magazine pouches. Pyrrha, Ren and Nora did the same as they stood next to him.

Jaune picked up the Grand Cherokee keys that were on the table. He looked towards the others and Ruby walked up to him holding onto a small backpack. He took it and turned it around in his hands.

"What's this for?"

"It's got some supplies you might need, a few flashlights, batteries, your Ka-Bar, some sandwiches, water, a small notebook, and a small medical kit that Weiss put together for you." Jaune nodded slowly before slinging it over on shoulder.

"Thanks Ruby and thank you as well Weiss." Jaune said looking between the two of them, Ruby smiled and Weiss nodded with a straight face.

"Well I guess we should be heading out now." Jaune said as they just stood there, Helena however walked over and wrapped her arms around him.

"Please stay safe Jaune." She said softly.

"I will, don't worry." He said as she let go then hugged Pyrrha.

"Make sure he doesn't do anything stupid." She told the older girl, Pyrrha laughed softly as she stroked Helena's back.

"Want us to see you off?" Mina asked but Jaune shook his head as he held the door open for Pyrrha and the others to walk through.

"Its fine, you look like you need to get some sleep anyways besides that we'll be back soon."

* * *

 **Later…**

Jaune slowed the Grand Cherokee to a full stop as he pulled it to the side of the road. The sky had gone grey again outside but Jaune had no reason to suspect that rain might come again.

Turning the jeep off, he looked at the others. No one said or moved as they looked at him; even Nora didn't crack a joke as she took this seriously.

"Let's get moving. Ren, Nora you'll take this side of the road. Keep low and close to the tree line if a car or another group comes then I want you both to take cover while Pyrrha and I hold their attention. If things go badly then come help us other than that stay down till I signal you." Jaune said as he looked at the pair both of them nodded before stepping out of the jeep.

"You ready?" He asked Pyrrha and she nodded. Jaune stepped out of the jeep then turned quickly walked around to the back. Popping open the door he picked up his Model 3 then the backpack Weiss made for him while Pyrrha picked up her Model 10.

Slamming in his magazine, he hit the bolt release before seeing Pyrrha do the same to her rifle. Closing the door, Jaune made sure the jeep was locked then nodded towards Pyrrha.

The two of them set off at a jog down the road, with Nora and Ren mirroring them on the other side of the road.

They had stopped about a mile out from where their first objective was a rest station that was the final stop before the road reached Mountain Glenn. It also happened to have a road that led up towards the Mountaintop Observatory which was popular for star gazers.

Less than a few minutes into their jog, Jaune slowed down as they happened upon a van. It was parked on the side of the road but what had Jaune worried was the fact that all of the doors were open.

Did whoever that used it abandon the vehicle, were they killed or did they all turn?

"Cover me." Jaune whispered at Pyrrha who nodded then moved towards his far right while he approached towards the van's right with his rifle aimed towards it.

Nora who had taken Neptune's Spas-12 which he had left behind crept up on his left while Ren had taken the other Stag Model 3 covered her left. Jaune glanced over at Nora who kept her shotgun trained on the van.

"I don't think anyone is in it." She said and Jaune had to agree with her, lowering his rifle from his shoulder but still keeping it aimed in the general direction of the van he got close to it. Looking inside he could see blankets, pillows, opened snack boxes and half empty soda bottles.

At that point Jaune realized he was holding his breath, releasing it slowly it sounded like a hiss as he stood up straight. Turning around he gave a short wave for the others to see then looked back into the van, looking at the driver seat he could see that the keys were still in the ignition.

Climbing in, he sat down in the driver seat then turned the key but nothing happened.

"It's not working?" Nora asked as she climbed into the passenger seat.

"Nope, I think the battery is dead." Jaune said as he tried the key again.

"There doesn't look to be anything of use, should we keep going?" Pyrrha asked.

"I think the better question that we should be trying to answer is what happened to the people that were using this." Ren pointed out.

"Well the van's heading in the direction of Mountain Glenn; do you think they just walked the rest of the way there?" Nora asked but Jaune shook his head.

"No, there's something off about it."

"Is it because there are snacks and drinks laying around half finished?" Ren asked and he nodded.

"Why wouldn't they take that with them?" Jaune mused.

"Maybe the Army picked them up and they just sort of left it in the rush?" Pyrrha pointed out.

"There's no way to know for sure, for now I'm just going to write down the license plate then see if I can find anything with it when we return." Jaune said as he pulled the notebook out of his bag.

"Should we keep moving?" Pyrrha asked.

"Yea, go in the same formation, I'll be right behind you." Jaune said as he began writing down the license. Pyrrha turned to the others and nodded as she jogged back to the side of the road. The road was starting to rise up as jogged.

She could hear the sound of someone jogging behind and soon Jaune appeared in her peripherals. The handsome blond teen was staring ahead but she could see him glancing her at now and then. It didn't even feel like a minute had passed for Jaune started to slow down.

"Look up ahead, a sign." Jaune said as he took a few deep breathes, Pyrrha could see the sign he had pointed out.

She could feel her hands start to get a little clammy as the sign meant they had reached the rest stop. However they didn't have a clear sight as a thick line of trees about a hundred yards away obstructed their view with thigh high grass.

Nora and Ren jogged across the road to join them as Jaune studied the trees intently.

"What's the plan Fearless Leader?" Nora asked with a smile grin and Jaune groaned as the three of them laughed a little at that.

"I'm going to ignore that last part, though to address your question we're gonna approach slowly. Straight line, Pyrrha you're on my right, Nora you're on hers then Ren. Got it?" He asked looking at all of them.

"Let's go." They lined up and slowly moved through the grass towards the trees. Jaune could feel sweat start to bead his forehead and neck as he looked at the surrounding grass. In his mind he couldn't help but think of its ability to hide a body, dead or alive, from sight.

In worst case scenario, the chances for a gunman lying in wait to ambush them as soon as their backs were open scared him. At least if it was a zombie they would hear it coming for them.

Soon they were less than twenty meters from the trees and Jaune could see Pyrrha looking nervously around as they moved. A drop of sweat briefly obscured his version before he quickly wiped it away with his left sleeve.

As they were about to reach the tree line, Jaune got the feeling that if he turned around now he'll see someone with a gun about to shoot him. Though he knew he was just being paranoid but just because he was paranoid didn't mean he couldn't be right.

Alas he was wrong as no one shot them in the back as they made it to the tree line. Jaune knelt down next to a large Gambel Oak tree using the butt of his rifle to prop him up as he steadied his breathing. Three more Gambel Oak trees separated them from rest area.

"Anyone else hate running in these?" Ren asked between heavy breathing, as he was the least strong one out of the four

"You'll get used to it." Nora said.

"Alright we'll take a five minute break then push forward. Pyrrha watch the rear and I'll go take a look of the rest station." Jaune said as he raised his rifle again.

"Are you sure you don't want me to go with you?" She asked but Jaune shook his head.

"No need, I won't be that far away."

"Don't hesitate to call for us Jaune." Ren said and the two teens locked eyes before nodding to each other. Jaune slowly pushed past the branches and leaves of the tree until nothing stood in his path, looking ahead he could see their first destination.

The rest area was a gas station with what looked to be an attached garage along with a motel that had a diner adjacent to it. There were a few cars sitting silently in the parking area but Jaune couldn't see anything that indicated life or otherwise.

"See anything?" Ren asked from behind and Jaune felt a wave of fear pass through him.

"Jesus. For someone who's tired you still move too silently for your own good." Jaune complained.

"Don't you mean yours?" He replied and Jaune snorted.

"Whatever dude and to answer your question, maybe. There are some cars up there but I don't know if their owners are still here. There doesn't seem to be any signs of conflict so I'm gonna say we're good though that doesn't mean we shouldn't be careful. That motel up there can easily be housing dozens of zombies or bandits." Jaune said as he pointed towards the large building.

"Do you think we'll run into anyone?" Jaune shrugged.

"I'm not sure Ren but I'm kind of hoping we don't."

"Why? Just because we find someone doesn't mean they'll be evil assholes like Cinder." Ren pointed out.

"True but that doesn't mean accidents can't happen. How would you feel if you're protecting your family with let's say a shotgun and you see four armed individuals come through the door? People tend to shoot first and ask questions later in that situation and a shotgun up close is gonna kill or severely main one of us." Jaune said as he scratched the back of his neck.

"You got a point but then shouldn't we just call out our intentions?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean when we enter a building or a room we call out who we are." Ren said and Jaune mused over it for a second.

"Yea that sounds good, alright go call the others, I think we can move out now." Ren disappeared and a few moments passed before Nora, Pyrrha appeared with him.

"So what's the plan?" Pyrrha asked and Jaune pointed towards the motel.

"I want to get the biggest obstacle out of the way first." Nora tapped her chin with one finger while tapping her shotgun with her other hand.

"That's a lot of windows. What if someone shoots at us?"

"If that happens then run, doesn't matter in what direction, you run till you find cover. In order to minimize the chance of multiple of us getting hit by a bullet we're gonna stagger out our formation as we head towards it. I'll go first, Nora you're next, I want you to go ten feet to my right then wait ten seconds after I leave before moving. Pyrrha you're on my left, same spacing and timing. Ren you're directly on my tail you'll wait till ten seconds after them. If you see something, call it out, everyone is to stop at that point and the two people to the left and right will face that direction while the fourth watches their back. Everyone understand?" They nodded and Jaune licked his lips as he looked towards the motel. Raising his rifle to his shoulder he moved out from the tree line with it half raised in front of him. His shoes thudded on the grass for a little before the sound and feel under them changed to the asphalt. Behind him he could hear Nora and Pyrrha moving as well.

Keeping his eyes forward he looked at the oncoming rest station for any signs of movement but he kept a particular close eye on the motel windows. As he drew closer to the motel parking lot, he could see that there were a few cars sitting silently.

Unlike the van however there didn't seem to be any recent activity involving them. Either they were left there by the previous owners or they died before reaching them. None of those possibilities gave him comfort as it just meant trouble down the road.

Less than thirty feet from the motel he picked up his pace and ran up next to the main entrance, careful not to cross in front of it in case someone might be watching it for intruders. Soon Nora, Pyrrha and Ren joined him as well.

The four of them stood next to the wall and he could hear them breathing audibly. Whether that was because they were truly tired or the adrenaline was kicking in on overtime he wasn't sure.

"So, are we going in?" Nora asked and he nodded then gestured for her to come forward.

"Nora since you've got the shotgun you'll have to take point with Ren. I'm going to open the door for both of you. Ren you'll stand on the right and Nora you're on the left. When the door opens Nora will go in first and move diagonally, once she clears the door Ren you'll move next. Imagine it like you're literally crossing paths." They both nodded and Jaune looked at Pyrrha.

"You'll be covering out back, you see anyone or anything move you let me know then fire if it's a clear shot, got it?" She nodded and Jaune clapped his hands.

"Let's move."

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

Taiyang Xiao Long stood at the busted doorway of the shop. Inside he could see what remained of an improvised barricade; however it was clear that it didn't have a lasting effect as he could see the shattered wood furniture lying around.

Stepping over a broken chair he moved inside with his Model 1887, his nose wrinkled at the thick, overwhelming smell of blood. He quickly pulled up his plaid scarf around his nose and mouth before he proceeded further in.

As Taiyang explored the shop he realized that something was off. There were no dead bodies, plenty of blood and blood trails but there was nothing else.

He supposed they might not have had any guns and only relied on melee weapons but the fact he wasn't finding anyone bothered him much more than he expected. Yet despite the urge to leave intensifying in him, he felt like something was beckoning him, so he decided to head into the backrooms.

What he found was a nightmare.

The moment he had entered the room the smell of blood intensified tenfold but it was dark so he had to turn the flashlight on his Model 1887 on.

The singular beam of light cut through the darkness but sweat began to form on his neck and back as he heard what he assumed was a water leak. As there was the sound of multiple drips of liquid that could be heard falling further on in the darkness.

Something shifted behind him and he spun around ready to blast whatever was in view but he didn't as it was a rat on a shelf. Sighed with relief he turned back around and walked forward. He soon found himself in a hallway, panning the flashlight around he looked for a light switch but found nothing.

Again evidence of panic was clear to see as books, papers, even purses and briefcases were tossed on the floor. Yet there were no bodies, no signs of a struggle, just blood. The more Taiyang stayed in the building the more he got the feeling that he should just leave but he needed to see if he could find another human being.

He hadn't talked to another living soul since the morning everything went to shit, Ruby and Yang. His daughters, they were the two most precious things in his life that he would gladly die or kill for at a moment's notice.

Now though he didn't know where they were or even if they were still alive. Had he not left his phone behind he would have been able to send Yang a message at least but now there was nothing. His daughters were gone, people are dead or dying everywhere he looks, and he was alone.

He stopped when he noticed something unusual; the trail of blood all seemed to have stopped outside a door marked as maintenance. Blood pooled out from underneath the door and Taiyang got the feeling that he shouldn't go in but he needed to know what happened to the people in the building.

They had constructed a barricade to keep the undead out yet now it was broken but no sign of any of them. Yet the numerous blood trails led him deeper into the building, something was going on.

So Taiyang gripped the door handle and slowly turned it open. The door swung slowly open with what seemed to him with an abnormally loud creak.

Reaching inside Taiyang felt the wall to his right and found a switch then flicked it up. A fluorescent light sputtered to light, looking at what was inside his mouth quickly flooded with saliva and before he could even turn around he vomited. Inside were the bodies of four dead people.

Three of them were women, each had their hands bound and tied to the ceiling. Each of them had been stripped naked and he could see despite the cuts carved into them despite vast amount of semidried blood.

The fourth was what he assumed was a man as it was a bit difficult to tell with his head smashed to bits. Taiyang could see in the corner of his eye a bloody sledgehammer leaning against the wall.

"Another one for the you Lady Death." A raspy voice spoke from Taiyang and spun around only to see a knife coming down on him.

* * *

 **Elsewhere…**

Pyrrha sighed as she closed the door to the motel room; there wasn't anything especially useful other than some towels and soap.

"Find anything?" Someone called out and she turned to see Nora walking up to her.

"Afraid nothing particularly, you?" Pyrrha asked but the shorter girl shook her head.

"Some leftover pizza but nothing good either." Nora said with a half-smile and Pyrrha frowned.

"You didn't eat the pizza did you?" Nora opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something but decided against it as she started to whistle.

"Nora did you really eat it? That pizza must have been sitting out in the open for days." Pyrrha said astonished but Nora crossed her arms like a huffy child.

"It tasted fine."

"I'm telling Ren." Pyrrha said and Nora glared at her.

"You wouldn't." The shorter girl said and after a few moments they both began to laugh softly then it started to get louder and louder before the two were leaning against a wall or railing as they laughed.

"Uh, what are you two doing?" Ren asked as he turned the corner seeing the two girls laughing hysterically.

"It's nothing, nothing at all." Nora said after a moment and Ren nodded his head slowly then nodded towards the door.

"Anything good?" He asked.

"Nope there's nothing here, what about you? I assume you've checked the gas station out already if you're back up here with us." Pyrrha replied.

"A lot of the food and drinks inside are gone but other than that it's clear. Jaune checked out the diner and he said that the back fridge was mostly stocked and there were no signs of any zombies." Ren said as he leaned against the rail.

"Where did our Fearless Leader go?" Nora asked.

"Oh, he went to go get the Grand Cherokee."

"So, it's just the observatory left right?" Nora asked as she sat down and leaned against the metal railing next to Ren.

"Yea after Jaune's recording what he needs too for the Army then we've got to clear that as well, though I'm not sure they want us to do that." Pyrrha said as she sat opposite of Nora.

"Probably has to do with them wanting to make sure that there's no chance of an infection breaching their defenses. You remember seeing how much they've done to the city limits." Ren said and Pyrrha nodded. When they had made their way out of the city, at the outskirts they found that the Army had been busy turning a good mile long stretch of the road into a heavily fortified gatehouse. With construction starting on what Pyrrha assumed was a fourteen foot high concrete wall on either side of it.

To think that within a week they had already gotten that much done was a surprise but to know that was their goal to do with the entire city, was daunting.

"So you're saying that they're just trying to eliminate any places that could have zombies or bandits?" Pyrrha asked and he nodded.

"It makes sense; they don't to take the chances of any pocket of danger to exist so close to the city, especially this early. I wouldn't be surprised if they send us out further the next time we get a mission or have us go searching in the forests in case anyone veered off the road and died out there or something." Ren said before turning around, the sound of a car could be heard in the distance.

"Is it Jaune?" Nora asked as she stood up and Ren shook his head as he raised his rifle aiming it towards the street.

"No, it's someone else." Pyrrha stood up as well and raised her rifle too. Looking at the scope that Ruby had mounted on it earlier that week she could see a black SUV come into view.

"Fuck. That can't be Cinder again, right?" Nora asked as it came closer to them.

"Well there's only one and there's not an army of bandits coming at us. Oh and we're not dead so I think we're safe on that account." Ren replied.

"It could be a scout? Maybe pushing up to see if anyone is ahead of them while the others encircle the place before closing in." Pyrrha noted as the SUV stopped and four people exited from it. Pyrrha could see two girls and two guys.

One of the girls had dark skin and platinum blonde hair of the four she looked most dangerous as she had a shotgun which she cradled with her left arm. She turned to address the other three and gestured toward the buildings.

The two guys walked towards the diner, both of whom carried bats. While the other girl followed the blonde one but as far as Pyrrha could see, she didn't look to be armed.

"You think they see us?" Nora asked as the shorter girl started to jump up and down while waving both of her arms at them.

"Yea Nora, they saw us." Ren said dryly.

"Oh my god Ren, if you don't stop being so sarcastic I'm going to throw you off here." Nora said as she crossed her arms.

"You won't." Ren smiled back while Pyrrha just looked back and forth between them but they just started to do some weird playful banter that just confused Pyrrha.

"Well, uh, I guess I'll go down to meet them." Pyrrha said as she started to step backward.

"Yea, you do that." Nora said absentmindedly.

"Don't worry we'll have your back Pyrrha." Ren said with obvious mirth in the boy's tone. Pyrrha headed down the outside stairs to the first floor and headed towards the two girls. Her hands felt clammy as she held onto her rifle, she didn't know what was going to happen and it frightened her.

"Hi there!" The shorter girl called out as Pyrrha got about ten feet from them but didn't go any farther.

"Hello." Pyrrha replied now that she was closer she could see the shorter girl hair was turquoise.

"Who are you?" The other girl asked abruptly and Pyrrha was taken aback for a moment.

"What?"

"Who. Are. You. I can see you're armed so I want to know if there's going to be trouble here." The taller girl asked again with a little more force.

"My name's Pyrrha Nikos and I am not your enemy. We're here to just check to see if the area is safe." Pyrrha said as she pointed up towards the motel where Nora and Ren were standing still.

"That's Nora and Ren. We're a team."

"A team?" The shorter girl asked and Pyrrha nodded.

"What do you mean check to see if this area is safe? Are there zombies here? Bandits?" The dark skinned girl asked again.

"Well, no, not as far as we're aware and I think I deserve to know your names as well." Pyrrha said as she narrowed her eyes a little in a glare and the shorter girl put her hands on her head as if she had forgotten something.

"Shit my bad, my name's Reese Chloris and this stone faced bitch is Arslan Altan, we've got two more with us their names are Bolin Hori and Nadir Shiko. We are or were students from East High over in Vale, we came here cause we heard that Mountain Glenn was still occupied by the Army and is safe." The shorter girl explained and Pyrrha felt relief pass over her releasing tension in her shoulders that she had even been aware of.

"Well I have good news for you." Pyrrha started to say then in the corner of her eye she saw the Grand Cherokee come into view.

"Well Mountain Glen is indeed safe, we're actually from Vale as well and we've been in the city for a few days." The girl named Arslan shifted her shotgun from one arm to the other.

"Then why are you out here?"

"Jaune can explain it better than me, he's our group leader." Pyrrha said as she waved at Jaune who had gotten out of the jeep and was jogging towards them.

"What's going on here?" Jaune called out as he got closer.

"Oh, we're just having a picnic; we brought sandwiches what about you?" Reese replied and Pyrrha could see Arslan silence the shorter girl with a murderous glare.

"Never mind her; she doesn't know when to shut up. We were just talking to your subordinate here." Arslan said and Jaune tilted his head a little.

"She's not my subordinate, she's my friend and her name is Pyrrha."

"My apologies, she said you were the group leader."

"I don't see it that way but that doesn't matter. Who are you and what are you doing here?" Jaune asked bluntly, Pyrrha could see Arslan narrow her eyes a little at that.

"My name is Arslan Altan, I'm here trying to get my group to Mountain Glenn." Jaune grinned.

"Well luck's on your side Ms. Altan we're from Mountain Glenn and we're currently attached to the Military as an Auxiliary Combat Company. Right now we're on a mission to check out this rest area and an Observatory nearby." Jaune as Ren and Nora came down to join them.

"Why would you join up? Being out here is fucking terrifying; you never know what's waiting to kill you." Jaune shrugged.

"True but if you're an Auxiliary you get a higher placement of priority over regular civilians so that means we get better accommodations, more food, weapons, ammo, medical items, clothes, and other assortment of things in exchange for fighting." Arslan frowned.

"So you're doing it for the stuff?" Jaune shrugged.

"You can look at it that way but I also do it because it's the right thing to do, if risking my neck means that I can take better care of my group then I think that's worth the risk." Jaune smiled sadly.

"I know my father would have done the same thing." No one looked at him when he said that as all of them, even the strangers, knew that was a topic that none of them wanted to dwell upon.

"Well then, can we tag along with you?" Arslan asked and Jaune tilted his head in surprise.

"Really? You can go on ahead to Mountain Glenn without us the Army will check you for signs of bites but other than that there's no restriction that I'm aware of." Jaune said and she shrugged.

"Fair enough but I suppose it'll look better if we arrive with you. If they see us with one of their Auxiliary units it'll put us both in a good light. You bring back more people and we know we'll get in." Jaune frowned.

"I think you're putting too much stock in us if you think being with us means you'll get in easier." Arslan rolled her eyes.

"Okay fine, maybe I just want to stick to the four people armed with guns that aren't trying to kill us."

"Have you meant others that have tried to kill you?" Ren asked and Reese nodded.

"Ran into a pair of decked out bikers with automatic rifles and armor. Fuckers nearly got us but Arslan here was able to kill them both though we couldn't get their gear cause a bunch of zombies started coming at us." Reese looked at Arslan.

"I forgot where that was."

"Ashland, it's about four hours north of the Glenn Mountain Range. We went there since Bolin had family there it was a bust though, we got there just in time to find the place teeming with zombies." The two girls quieted down when the two boys in their group returned.

"So we're not killing each other? Sweet." The taller of the two with black hair said as he looked at the other guy who had dark skin along with long pink hair and a short black under cut.

"So what now?" The pink hair guy asked as he uncorked a bottle he was carrying.

"Uh, I wouldn't drink that." Jaune warned.

"Don't be such a stick in the mud man, it's just wine. Like at communion." The guy said.

"Nadir." Arslan started to say but it was too late, he tipped the bottle back and not even a few seconds later he dropped it. Falling to his knees he began to retch violently for a few moments, the other guy who Jaune assumed was Bolin patted the guy on the back.

"Jesus, what was that?" Nadir asked as he continued to spit the linger taste from his mouth.

"That was cooking wine." Jaune said and the guy looked at him confused.

"You're not supposed to drink the stuff you idiot, it's meant to be cooked with only." Arslan snapped at him and he looked down.

"So what's the plan? Are we heading to Mountain Glenn together?" Bolin asked.

"Yea but we're gonna stick with these four for now since they're apparently soldiers in the Vale Army." Reese explained.

"Really?" Bolin asked and Jaune shook his hand in a vague gesture.

"Kind of, we're Auxiliary or temporary soldiers."

"Fuck man, you're still on their payroll so it's all the same to me." Nadir said as he climbed to his feet.

"So where are we going then?" Bolin asked and Jaune pointed further up the mountain where they could see a while building in the distance.

"Oh. Well, what's the worst that can happen?"

* * *

 **My oh my, Taiyang seems to have gotten himself into a pickle but that's fine since pickles work well in sandwiches and anyone who disagrees with that is a Heretic and we all know what we do with Heretics.**

 **As for Jaune and Pyrrha's little moment on the roof, that took me a while to do as I just kept thinking what would have happened if Pyrrha just pushed Jaune off the ledge.**

 **Questions for another day I suppose.**

 **And what's this? I've added some of our good ol' random characters that no one ever saw again from Volume 3, on a side note I'm finally gonna start watching Volume 4 and 5 this weekend.**

 **The next Lost Son Chapter should be out in a week or so depending on how fast I feel like typing.**

 **On a more serious note, can ya'll like not send me NTR stuff? Those stories are generally just weak premises written by writers who are more concerned about making some shock factor story to jack off too so in short I hate them. Though Pyrrha's Quest for Jaune's Satisfaction wasn't a bad read so there's that.**

 **Anyways don't forget to leave a Review about what you thought of this chapter, good or bad, or talk about anything else you want it really doesn't matter that much or PM me.**

 **Till Next Time!**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Taiyang stumbled through the broken barricade onto the street of the town, whose name he had forgotten. Behind him he could hear the manic screaming of whomever it was that had attacked him.

Looking down at his left shoulder, he could see the kitchen knife sticking out of his shoulder, the pain was excruciating as it came in rapid waves almost in tune to his heartbeats. Then again he supposed getting stabbed was in general not a very pleasant experience.

There was a rasping moan from nearby and he looked up to see a man with his neck torn up come around the corner. Without hesitating Taiyang raised his Kahr up then fired three times, the three rounds stitched a path up the center of the man's torso before he fell backward.

"WHERE ARE YOU!?" A voice screeched from the building he had come out of. Taiyang rose slowly to his feet, the movement sending a wave of pain through his shoulder as he made his own over to his bike which was parked a few feet away.

More zombies started to appear, many of which were moving fast towards him. He quickly emptied his magazine at the nearest one about forty feet away, another man who wore a ruined suit.

The last two rounds in his handgun hit the man high, one in the shoulder and the other in the throat. He fell over sideways, convulsing on the ground but Taiyang could see that it wasn't truly dead still.

In the corner of his eye, he could see a three more zombies running towards him along with what he quickly guessed to be about a dozen more that were coming down the street towards him. He climbed onboard his bike and started it.

Raising his handgun he fired at the three zombies closing in. The first shot clipped the lead zombie in the head but it was enough to send it sprawling to the ground. Behind it the second zombie was a burly bearded man in overalls that took four shots to the chest before it fell.

Taiyang fired two more times, the first round hitting the third zombie, a teenage girl, in the leg while the last round hit her in the abdomen but she didn't go down.

He cursed as he ejected the magazine, his hand shook as he desperately pulled out another magazine. Gasping as he slammed it in, the zombie was less than ten feet now and Taiyang was struggling to focus.

Looking at his hands he could see blood on them as they trembled. The zombie gave a loud guttural groan as it closed in on him, aiming the handgun in what he assumed was the right direction he emptied it quickly.

A few of the rounds missed or clipped her but enough of them hit her torso before she fell forward, the momentum nearly carrying her into him.

"Fuck." He said as he turned on the Gold Wing, he needed to get as much distance as he could from here before he passed out. Maneuvering the bike as he sped down the street turned out to be a very difficult task as with his left arm next to useless he essentially could only make right turns.

The sun was dipping ever lower as well, shadows danced across the pavement as silhouettes moved through the lifeless town. Taiyang didn't know where he was going nor did he really know if he was actually moving, everything felt as if it was a daze.

Was he dreaming, hallucinating, or was he just going crazy?

Was he even still alive?

Maybe but he couldn't be sure as all around him was the faces of nightmares, every sense betrayed his thoughts as decay and death was all that surround him.

Darkness took him.

* * *

 **Elsewhere…**

Jaune sat on the table with his legs crossed as he looked out the diner window. Behind him the rest of the group was lounging around and eat whatever they could get their hands on in the kitchen.

Nora had apparently gone in and discovered the ingredients needed to make pancakes. As such they had witnessed the spectacle of Ren trying to run away from the orange hair girl.

If Jaune had to liken that scene to anything he would have to say it was like a cheetah chasing down a gazelle.

Of course Jaune had offered to help his friend in the kitchen but Ren had declined. For some reason Jaune had a feeling it was more so to steady his nerves than out of kindness.

Not that he could blame them, earlier they had heard a few soft cracks and pops in the distance of the Observatory. Jaune had reckoned it was gunfire which immediately put everyone on edge.

As none of them knew why there were shots. Was it two groups getting into a fight, zombies, murder, or something more mundane like hunting?

Reese had been the one to suggest that, as she swore that she had seen wildlife on their way up here. So she had reasoned that someone was hunting a deer or elk.

Jaune knew she was scared though when she had been suggesting that, her voice didn't stop quivering the entire time when she was talking. He didn't blame her; it set his own hair on end to think about what they might have to deal with when they headed up there.

Alas he had a job to do.

"Not going to eat?" A voice asked and Jaune looked over his shoulder to see Pyrrha standing behind him.

"I'm not feeling particularly hungry."

"Then would you at least want some water?" Pyrrha asked as she held out a glass but Jaune laughed softly as he shook his head and Pyrrha gave him a quizzical look.

"Honestly I've been to the bathroom three times already; I don't think I need any more water." Pyrrha smiled as she laughed at that as well and Jaune couldn't help but think how musical her laugh sounded to his ears.

"So when are we going to go up there?" She asked as she pulled out a chair to sit in.

"I don't know I was thinking we'll leave in like an hour or so. I want to let the others unwind as much as possible before we head up there."

"What do you think we'll find up there?" Pyrrha asked but Jaune just shrugged.

"Nothing good I suppose." He winced as she punched his thigh.

"Ow, sheesh, I mean we're not going to find a bunch of happy go lucky people. If I had to be honest we're either gonna be dealing with zombies or survivors.

"I suppose that would leave little room for an appetite." Pyrrha mused.

"It's not that, I'm actually a little hungry but I rather not have too much food or water in my stomach when we head up there." Pyrrha frowned and Jaune tapped his nose.

"If there are zombies up there then the smell might get to us." Pyrrha's eyes widen, she should have realized that herself. While they wouldn't necessarily be decomposing or anything it wouldn't be farfetched to think corpses would stick pretty badly.

"Now I wish I didn't eat any of those pancakes." She said as she looked at the glass of water she was holding onto.

"Probably but I would think that would be the least of our concerns at that moment." Jaune pointed out.

"True." She glanced at Arslan and the others.

"So what should we do about them?" She asked and Jaune looked at Pyrrha to see her gesture her head sideways.

"Ah, them. Well there's not much we can do other than just let them come with us. Though I suppose we shouldn't let them follow us in when we clear out the Observatory." Jaune scrunched his nose up as he thought about it.

"I suppose you can stay behind and watch them as Nora and Ren come with me to clear out the Observatory." Pyrrha frowned at that but Jaune shook his head.

"You've got a semi-automatic rifle with a low magazine count that is better at making more accurate long range shots. Whereas the Model 3 rifles that Ren and I carry are better indoors while Nora has a shotgun. I think keeping you outside or at least watching the main entrance of the building is the best plan." Pyrrha looked like she was going to continue to object but Jaune made a cutting motion with his hand.

"Pyrrha, stop." She closed her mouth and looked away.

"Fine." She said as she stood up and walked over to the counter to sit next to Arslan and Nora. Jaune didn't say anything as he pulled out his notebook; he needed to make some notes for the supply pickup.

* * *

 **An Hour Later…**

Jaune was stuffing the notebook away after writing and shifting everything he could into the diner for pickup from the Army when Arslan walked up to him.

"Hey." She said.

"Sup."

"What's the plan?" He looked at her.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you do have a plan for going up there right?"

"Of course I have a plan."

"Then what is it?" Jaune sighed as he slipped the backpack on.

"Why do you want to know?" She frowned.

"I think I have right to know what you plan on doing up there."

"I already mentioned what we're going to do up there; we're surveying and securing the area for the Army." She held up a hand.

"Yes I know that but I want to know how you are planning on doing this."

"Ah, fair enough. I'm going in with my most of my team and we'll clear the building out while Pyrrha, the red head, covers the entrance with you and your group."

"Why is she holding the entrance while you three go in?" Jaune sighed.

"Because that's what I think is best."

"Why's that?"

"Look I've thought it over and I think this is the best way. It'll keep you and your people safe while protecting my rear."

"So you're just keeping us out of your way?" Jaune shook his head.

"You can look at it like that but to me it's literally just making sure that our exit from the place is clear as for all I know it's filled to the brim with zombies. If that was the case then I would want to make sure that none of them get between us and the front door which is why I'm having you posted there with Pyrrha. She's got a rifle and you've got a shotgun but the other three members of your group don't have any other useful weapon." Jaune looked out the window.

"Not only that I've already got the life of my friends balancing in my hands, I'm not sure how I'd feel to be responsible for the lives of others as well."

"I see." Arslan said but Jaune didn't look at her as he was far too concerned by the various scenes flashing in his head of death befalling his friends by his mistakes. Shaking his head he looked to see that Arslan had left him alone and he sighed before standing up to face the others.

"Alright, I've shifted everything useful that I could find here, pack up what you wish to take but make sure it's not in excess. When you're done packing that away into the vehicles we'll start heading over to the Observatory." Ren, Nora and Pyrrha nodded before setting off but the others didn't move.

"It'll be quicker if you help us." Jaune said as he looked at them, Arslan was the only one who nodded but the others sat at their seats.

"You heard him, if we're gonna go with them might as well help them where we can." Arslan said sternly and it was only by her command that they finally stood up then moved to help. Jaune nodded to Arslan before heading out himself.

* * *

 **Elsewhere…**

Qrow sat on the rooftop of their building, he had originally wanted to get some fresh air but it seemed faith had other ideas.

A fire was raging a few streets away; while it was contained the smoke emitted from it was far passing over their building. Alas Qrow still stood on the roof inhaling the smoke, knowing that it was probably not good for him but he stayed there nonetheless.

As there wasn't really anywhere for him to go in the city, it's not like he could go grab a bite or go to work.

It hadn't even been that long since Jaune and the others left but everyone seemed completely bored out of their minds. Blake and Sun had left a little while after ago to go explore the city.

Weiss, Ruby and Helena were reading some of the instruction manuals that they have had with them since they visited Alexander's shop.

He didn't know what Yang was up too; last he checked she had gone out as well. Though something else might have been going on there and he just wasn't sure what it was about.

As for Karen and Mina he had no idea where those two had gone off too.

"Excuse me, Mr. Branwen." A voice called out from behind him and he turned to see Ciel Soleil.

"Is there something you want?" She shook her head.

"No sir, I'm here because there's a request for you."

"From whom?"

"Madam Schnee." Qrow narrowed his eyes.

"Weiss? No, there's no way you'd take an order from her like some butler, it's the older Schnee girl isn't it." She nodded.

"Fuck." Qrow whispered before running a hand through his hair.

"Alright fine, what does she want from me?" Ciel walked towards the opposite side of the rooftop then pointed over the side. Qrow sighed again as he walked over and looked down.

Standing next to a black two door luxury car that stood precariously out from the surrounding street was Winter Schnee.

"What an idiot." Qrow sighed.

* * *

 **A Few Moments Later…**

Winter was leaning against the side of her car when Qrow stepped outside. The man looked older and more roughed up than the last time she had seen him.

Then again it had been a while since that distant night; the memories conjured up in her mind however sent heat to her cheeks at what had happened.

"What do you want Ice Queen?" The older man asked.

"I thought I'd come to see how my sister is doing under your care." Qrow raised an eyebrow at that.

"Then why did you call me down here."

"Well I figured she was probably out with that Mr. Arc on their mission or with her boyfriend Neptune." Qrow snorted.

"I suppose I can't fault you for not knowing." He mused aloud.

"Not knowing what?" Winter asked as she narrowed her eyes.

"Neptune left."

"Left?" She repeated and Qrow nodded.

"He thought Jaune and Weiss were fooling around. So he fucked some girl then left, we haven't seen him since." Winter was thoroughly surprised to hear this; while she never really liked Neptune she tried to be respectful as her sister's choice of a partner.

She supposed though that this choice of finding someone far from the norm of people in the circles that they've known for most of their lives was an understandable if not obvious mistake.

After meeting Jaune Arc though she supposed at the same time that these current events due give some merit in the idea that great people aren't born but simply made by the times they were in. Though that's just first impressions, time would tell if that thought was correct or not.

Alas she suspected that Neptune believed Jaune was the better person which would entice Weiss away from him, so he simply made the first betrayal to avoid getting hurt.

"Would you like to go for a drive?" Winter asked instead as she gestured to the car.

"Should you really be driving around in that?" Qrow asked instead and Winter raised an eyebrow as she crossed her arms.

"Do you want to accompany me or not?" He sighed.

"Fine, let's go."

"Good." The two of them got into the car, Winter turned the car on and Qrow could feel it roar to life. As much he would normally like to have a chance to even ride in a car like this, he couldn't help but feel a little on edge with the other occupant.

"Winter why are we doing this?" Qrow asked as they started to drive through the city, he could see more than a few people turning to look at them as they pass. He couldn't help but notice the looks of envy along with the glares of contempt as they drove by.

"Because I felt like going for a drive."

"But didn't you say you wanted to check up on your sister? You didn't even go inside."

"Oh she was inside?" I heard from Soleil that Mr. Arc set out earlier today so I figured if Neptune wasn't a part of the group she'd be out there on the mission as well."

"Nope, she was in the apartment with Jaune's younger sister and my niece."

"Well then I suppose she's in good hands so I don't need to check up on her."

"Right." The two of them didn't say anything for the next ten minutes; one didn't want to be there while the other just couldn't find the words.

"Actual there's something we need to talk about Qrow." Winter started to say but Qrow cut her off.

"Look. If it's about what happen last year then there's nothing to talk about, we both made our decision." Winter gripped the steer wheel tightly.

"It's not that."

"Then what is it?"

"Look I need a favor." Qrow wasn't sure what to think of that. Winter Schnee wasn't one to go asking for help, let alone a favor without having a good reason. At the same time Qrow figured that whatever it was, it was something that her name and potential financial backing wasn't capable of dealing with.

"Ugh, let's get it over with then, what is it."

"I need you to take in a girl."

"What?"

* * *

 **10 Minutes Later…**

Winter had pulled the car in a parking lot of a small park. At first Qrow thought it was just a random park but he noticed that there was a police vehicle parked there as well.

"Look, I'm going to need you to run this through me one more time." Qrow said as they got out of the car.

"Fine, I need you to look after someone for me."

"Okay but why?"

"Because I can't look after her properly and it was the wish of her father that I do this for her until Atlas loosens its restrictions."

"But that doesn't explain why you need us to look after her; you're staying here so you should be able to do fine."

"I've got to represent Atlas's interest here in Mountain Glenn, having her here would be a liability."

"What?" Winter was evidentially annoyed as she sighed really loudly so Qrow just looked away.

"Fine, fine, let's go." Winter walked forward and Qrow followed her as they headed towards the police car. The driver and passenger side doors open revealing two officers in uniform. One was a petite girl with violet eyes while the taller of the two was an older gentleman with a balding head and a goatee.

"Ma'am." The older man said as they got close.

"It's good to see you Colton, is she doing alright?" The man shrugged.

"Army patrols found her keeping watch over a group of graves off the side of the road. Other than that she's been pretty quiet, from what we've gathered she's been in shock since they found her." Winter pursed her lips before nodding to Qrow.

"Bring her out my, associate, here will take care of her until this is over." The man nodded then went back to the police car as Qrow looked back and forth confused at the situation.

He was just as confused when a short girl with orange hair emerged from the back of the police car. She wore black leggings with jean shorts and an old slightly oversized olive drab jacket. Winter went over and started to talk with her but Qrow couldn't hear what she was saying

Winter turned around and walked up to him with the girl trailing behind her. Qrow could see the young girl wasn't looking at him but at the ground.

"Qrow, this is the girl I want you to take care of." Winter said gesturing to the younger girl.

"What's your name kid?" Qrow asked but she didn't say anything and Winter sighed.

"You'll have to excuse her for now Qrow; she's been through a lot lately." He rubbed his chin as he thought, as much as he wanted to say no, he couldn't.

Qrow wasn't sure why but he couldn't help but think about a certain woman he once knew, she would have taken the girl in without a second thought.

He missed her.

"Fine then, I'll take her back with me." Winter gave a small smile.

"I knew you'd say that." He snorted.

"Officer Yates and his partner here will take you back to your apartment."

"You still owe me a full explanation of what's going on." Qrow said as he followed her back to her car. Then she turned around then did the one thing he hoped she wouldn't and kissed his cheek.

"Then ask her." She whispered in his ear before getting into the car. Sighing in annoyance as the car backed away Qrow looked around and was surprised to see her green eyes up at him.

"God damn it." He whispered then walked towards the police car and gestured for her to follow.

"Come on kid." She didn't say anything as the two of them sat in the back of the car.

"Huh, normally I'm not the one that's being put in the back of one of a squad car." Qrow said aloud.

"You a cop?" The man Winter had called Yates asked as he turned the car on.

"Yup, been a cop for a while, I was a part of the 28th Vale Precinct, though I suppose now there's no Vale Precincts left." Qrow said and the man glanced over his shoulder.

"Ah I got a cousin in the 28th; you know anyone named David Reed?" Qrow felt his heart stop and his hands went cold.

"Oh." He said simply and wasn't sure how to say it but the man looked at him. Their eyes met and Qrow could tell that the man knew.

"I see. Do you know how it happened?" He asked as he looked forward again.

"He got bit." The man's partner put on a hand on his shoulder as he cursed over and over again softly beating the steer wheel. For Qrow, watching man struggle to keep his nerves from fraying it became a simple reminder.

In this new cruel world, everyone had lost someone.

* * *

 **Elsewhere…**

Neo was crouched behind the brick wall that bordered a small park waiting for Roman to give the word. She had ten other people from their group crouched nearby, all of them normal civilians that carried bolt action rifles or shotguns.

"This is Red 1, radio check." Roman's voice came over Neo's headset.

"Roger, this is Red 2."

"This is Red 3, roger that."

"All Red Elements advance." Neo raised her head and looked over the brick wall to see their target. The marauders that had attacked them had gotten in large numbers on the outskirts of a small town called Milton.

Roman had gathered almost every able bodied fighting person in the group and set forth scouring the nearby land for the marauders while leaving a handful to protect the convoy. It had been long and tiresome task as there was several smoke columns that could be seen from where they were holding out.

So teams had to be sent out to investigate each of them and almost all of them were already barren of life or in some cases just decoys. Neo had suspected that whoever was leading this group knew that Roman was after them as such, they were sending their own teams to throw Roman off the scent.

However it was just by chance that a team of their armed civilians had found the current hideout of the marauder group. It didn't have nearly the amount of numbers that they had learned from their guest that they had caught though.

Lifting her rifle up and setting the barrel over the top of the brick wall she looked through the telescopic sight. From what the scouts had gathered most of them were shelter in a small shopping plaza.

It was going to be a difficult task in getting all of them, as they no doubt had the building covered from outsiders whether it was the undead or the living.

That being said, since they were next to a town she really hoped this engagement wouldn't last too long as she didn't want to drag the attention of the undead towards them. They were too spread out to deal with a two front battle.

"All teams advance." Roman's voice came over the radio and Neo looked to her group of civilians then nodded. Switching her headset off to avoid distractions she hopped over the brick wall and proceeded across the road towards the parking lot on the south side of the plaza.

Stopping behind a parked car, Neo quickly looked inside to make sure no one was sitting in it before she moved towards the front. Resting her rifle on the hood of the car she looked through the scope on it once more and could the various store fronts of the plaza.

Along with that she could see several people dressed and armed like the people that had attacked them. Inhaling and exhaling slowly she lined the rifle up with the closest person, what looked to be a man armed with his own bolt action rifle.

She fired.

The man dropped back as the rifle round struck his chest, next to her the rifles of the civilians with her opened fired as well. In the distance Neo could hear the crackle of small arms fire as the other teams pushed forward.

The windshield next to her shattered nosily and the civilian that was directly to her left ducked down. She didn't duck however as she looked through her scope again and found the person that was shooting at her.

She grinned as she saw them holding a handgun, she squeezed the trigger and the rifle bucked as it fired. The person fell back into a store window as the round struck him high in the chest, switching targets she fired two more times.

The two rounds hit a third person as they were trying to run away; the momentum of them running carried them further as the person got hit.

More people started to appear and the weight of small arms fire directed at them increased. Her grin fell away as she focused on hitting as many targets as she could.

"We got to fall back, there's too many!" One of the men with her yelled, she didn't remember his name.

"No! If we run now they'll kill us, there's too many people shooting." Another man said.

"Wasn't Roman and the soldiers supposed to draw their fire!?" A third man yelled but one of the men suddenly fell over, the top of his head blown open. Blood and shredded grey matter splashed onto the asphalt.

"Calvin! No!" One of the men shouted and Neo ducked down as several shots smacked into the hood of the car. They were right, the gunfire was starting to become too much to handle. She pulled a smoke grenade off her belt then pulled the pin before tossing it over the car and quickly tossed a second one after it.

"Quick! Let's go!" One of the men yelled and got up to run with the others following suit. Neo on the other hand was throwing her fourth and last smoke grenade before turning to run after them. The plaza parking lot of covered in smoke, enough to obscure their retreat from the marauders.

Neo dashed across the parking lot to the road again then headed over to her right to take cover behind a tree. The bark exploded as a few round zipped past her hitting the trunk. She looked down to see another one of the civilians lying on the ground dead, blood staining the back of his jacket.

"Roman sold us out!" Someone yelled but Neo ignored him as she kneeled down and peek around the tree. The smoke was starting to clear out sooner than she expected but she supposed that had to do with the increase of wind coming from the east.

However she did see that the marauders inside the plaza were pushing out towards them. She raised her rifle and fired three times. The first one missed but the second hit a person in the leg that was running in a slightly crouch between cars.

The third shot took them in the neck and before Neo panned the rifle away just as she could see the spurt of dark blood. More shots whined into the tree trunk and ground near her as she ducked back.

Pulling her magazine out she checked it before counting to three in her head then leaned out again. She fired at a group of four people that were running from the plaza entrance towards the parking lot.

She killed two and wounded the third but the fourth was able to make it to the cars. Rifle fire erupted near her and she could see in the corner of her eye the others firing their weapons again.

Though she couldn't help but notice that there were only five of them, which meant that a few more of them were either dead and she couldn't see them. Or had they continued to flee after they pulled back from the parking lot?

"They're trying to surround us!" Someone yelled and Neo could see in the distance that groups of six were moving to the far sides of the parking lot. She looked behind her again; they could make a break for the brick wall of the park they had hid behind before they attacked the plaza.

Leaning out from the tree she emptied her magazine at the ever closing marauders in the parking lot before taking off across the road.

"Let's move!" The voice from earlier shouted, Neo hopped over the wall and braced herself against it then exchanged magazines. Hitting the bolt release she stood up in a half crouch and could see the others hopping over the wall now as well.

The marauders were just reaching their former position by that time, a few rounds cracked against the brick wall but thankfully nothing came through it. She lined her rifle up again then fired twice however she was quickly forced to kneel down as gunfire racked her portion of the brick wall.

"Thomas, Edwin you two need to go down the wall and keep those guys from getting to close to us. Jack you and Barry need to do the same up the road." An older man with salt and pepper hair called out as he kneeled down near Neo.

"I guess we'll hold the middle." He said aloud but didn't look at her as he stood up then fired his bolt action rifle. She didn't say anything she stood up and fired a few more shots as well.

Small arms fire racked the brick wall again. Peeking over the lip of the wall she could see that the outer lay of the brick wall was practically shattered away from the gunfire.

"I need you to be serious with me." The man next to her said and she looked over to see him glaring at her.

"Did Roman abandon us?" Neo snorted as she shifted to a few feet over to her right then stood up and fired a few rounds before ducking again.

"Well?" He asked but she ignored him, she didn't have time to sit around and chat. If they didn't focus on the task at hand they'll get killed and even worse she might get killed.

"You don't talk much, do you?" He finally asked but Neo didn't even look at him as she quickly moved around him then went several feet before standing up to fire again.

He didn't get to question her anymore as he had been in the same spot for too long, the bricks behind him shattered as several rounds ripped into his body. He didn't even make a sound as he fell over dead, Neo snorted as she quickly hopped over his dead body.

More bullets slammed into the wall as the marauders just decided to destroy the brick wall she'd been using for cover. She cursed silently as the flurry of small arms fire slowly began to break apart her cover, she could see more than a few areas explode inward as bullet shattered the last layer of bricks.

She was running out of cover.

Alas faith had decided to step in as there was a loud bang much more distinct than gunfire and a few seconds later there was an ear ringing boom as an explosion rocked the parking lot. Small arms fired crackled along with the heavy thumps of a fifty opening up nearby.

Neo looked over the lip of the ruined brick wall to see one of the Humvees pushing slowly in from the northwest with several soldiers advancing along with it. The soldiers kept to the right side to avoid return fire and occasional two or three of them would push ahead and open fire until the Humvee caught up with them.

The same was happening on the other side of the parking lot with a second Humvee. However most of the soldiers that Roman had brought with him emerged from the plaza itself.

The plan had worked.

The start of the plan had been for the the teams to all engaged from a far distance with their respective positions in key places to keep the marauders from pushing out from any direction to engage or retreat.

Neo on the other hand had taken the task to push with a team of normal civilians to draw the marauders out to crush her weaker force. With the easy target well within reach, they had hoped the ill-disciplined marauders would come chasing them down, which they had.

Roman's spotters would have relayed live information to him so he could breach the weakened northern perimeter with his soldiers.

With that he was able to secure the plaza and take up position at the rear of the now exposed marauders. The ensuing battle was nothing but chaos and not wanting to get caught in the crossfire Neo immediately withdrew her team to the center of the park.

There she was at least able to still see the plaza's parking lot and was able to fire a few times as well. The few civilians with her weren't much for fighting at the moment; before Roman had arrived another two had been killed leaving Neo with the two guys called Jack and Edwin being the only ones from her team.

Watching the fight die down she looked towards the town of Milton, she didn't know what was in there at the moment but if the feeling in her gut was right.

Then they were running out of time.

"Oh shit." One of the remaining men whispered yet to Neo is sounded more distinct than a gunshot. She turned to look and saw the man raising his rifle to their south.

Dozens of figures were sprinting towards them, turning towards the oncoming crowd Neo raised her rifle and saw the nauseous sight of the undead coming for them. She started to fire rapidly at them as Edwin and Jack started to run towards the parking lot once more.

"All Units mount up!" Roman's voice was saying as she turned on her headset's again and then turned to start running towards the plaza as well. In the distance she could see the two Humvees pick up speed then turn onto the road between the park and the parking lot.

They started to fire at the oncoming mass of undead as more vehicles started speeding into view. A dozen of the soldiers came up to the shattered brick wall and started to fire as well. Neo kept her head down as she ran towards them.

"More of them to the west!" Someone called out over the radio and Neo could see a few of the soldiers heading down the road to fire at more zombies as they turned the corner.

"All Units, withdraw to Grid 7, Q, F, J, 3, 1, 2, 5." Roman started to list coordinates out over the radio as Neo vaulted over the brick wall. The soldiers were piling into the Humvees and SUVs that they had brought with them.

Neo turned around to see the zombies closing in on them, raising her rifle she fired a few times before running up and hopping into the passenger seat of an SUV.

"Holy shit that's a lot of them." The driver remarked surprisingly casual as the first few zombies reached their line. The soldiers however were keeping a tight formation with controlled bursts of fire as everyone got into vehicles.

Neo knew however the longer they stayed there, the larger the risk as none of them knew just how many zombies were coming for them.

"Get it off!" Someone yelled before gunfire overtook the voice and Neo spun around in the seat to look through the back left window to see zombies tackling a few of the soldiers.

Their screams of pain and horror were quickly drowned out by several renewed bursts of fire from nearby rifles. Neo turned forward again as two more soldiers jumped into the SUV with them.

"Hit it Louis!" One of them shouted and the car sped off following four other vehicles that were driving away from the town. The three of them laughed as they spun around a corner following the other vehicles but Neo didn't feel the same revelry as they did.

As they fled the undead dominated town having won and decimated the marauder group that had attacked them, she couldn't help but feel a sinking sensation in her gut.

This wasn't over.

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

Jaune walked slowly into the parking lot of the Observatory, looking around he immediately wished that he had brought more people with him. Or at least had more weapons to give to Arslan's group since she was the only one with a gun.

The parking lot was almost entirely filled with cars and school buses. Walking forward he panned the Model 3 rifle around looking for any signs of targets but he didn't see anything amongst the parked cars as he walked past them.

Reaching the side of the bus he could see that it had the writing to identify it as affiliated with the Mountain Glenn schools.

"Well that doesn't seem like a good thing." Ren's quiet voice spoke up on his right and Jaune simply nodded.

"Yup and we've still got to go inside."

"Maybe we're lucky and they're still alive."

"If that was really the case then why are the cars and buses still here?"

"Maybe the Army or Police transported them when the situation started to get out of hand." Jaune shook his head.

"That might make sense but my gut is telling me that isn't the case at all." Ren sighed at that.

"And we still have to go in, right?"

"It's our job now so yes."

"I never thought my first real job would be for the Army." Ren said as the two of them turned away from the buses and walked towards the main entrance of the building where Pyrrha had led the others to.

"True but no one could have suspected that this would have happened."

"You think we'll ever find out how this started?" Jaune asked as he looked at Ren but the other teen just shrugged.

"Honestly, I'm not sure we'll ever find out. If people do figure it out then I wouldn't be surprised that we're long dead at that point." Jaune frowned.

"That's a bit of a downer thing to say Ren."

"True but I also think I'm right."

"I didn't say you were wrong, it's just depressing to think that." Jaune pointed out and Ren stopped.

"Jaune." He said as he looked at the ground, Jaune raised an eyebrow.

"Yea?" Jaune waited for Ren to say what he obviously had on his mind but the magenta eyed teen said nothing then looked up at him.

"Let's go." He said as he walked past him, Jaune wanted to stop him but he didn't want to push either. So he just sighed in resignation and followed him.

"So you see anything?" Pyrrha called out as they rejoined the group, Jaune shook his head.

"Nope and there's no signs of fighting or flight."

"Sooooo?" Reese asked slowly.

"He means the people in came in these vehicles are probably still here." Pyrrha explained as she gave Jaune a meaningful look to which he nodded.

"Spot on."

"So they're all dead?" Bolin asked but Jaune shrugged.

"I honestly don't know."

"Great." Nadir said from the steps to the Observatory.

"Look you four can stay here with Pyrrha that's fine with me, in fact it's probably the best course of action for you at this point." Jaune said as he cradled his rifle.

"Really? I think you should take more people with you inside." Arslan said and Jaune shrugged.

"Probably but as much as I want to take Pyrrha with me, I need her to stay here."

"Because you don't trust us, right?" Arslan said Jaune sighed heatedly as he scratched his head.

"Let's be clear here, I trust all of you, I have no reason to not trust you but you're not in any true capacity to help me at the moment as only one of you has a gun but I don't want to risk taking you with me. At the same time Arslan you don't have a weapon that can cover the parking lot unlike Pyrrha. While Pyrrha I know you want to join us but you've just a semi-automatic weapon which is much more suited for medium to long range engagements and your lack of experience at fighting indoors means if anything you'll find yourself in bad spot fast." Jaune could still see the sparks of defiance in both Arslan's and Pyrrha's eyes.

"Jaune." Nora started to say but he cut her off.

"No." He made a cutting gesturing with his hands, his raised voice making all but the two defiant women flinch. Jaune stared at each of them and Arslan was the first to relent.

"Fine." Jaune focused all of his attention on Pyrrha and for a second he thought she would start yelling at him but she relented as well.

"I trust you." Jaune nodded as he turned to face the front entrance of the Observatory. Taking a deep breath he walked up the steps holding his rifle half raised. As he, Ren and Nora approached the door he gestured at the door handle.

Ren stepped forward and gripped it then looked at Jaune. He nodded towards the magenta eyed teen, Ren swiftly pulled it open and he moved forward.

The lobby of the building was a well light, spacious tiled room but Jaune couldn't help but notice the discarded papers and backpacks on the floor. He swept the rifle around and kept his eye out for any movement but he couldn't see anything move.

Nora quickly moved forward from his right while Ren was on his left. Both of them kept their weapons trained on doorways that led deeper into the building.

"I don't hear anything." Nora noted.

"That might be a good sign." Ren said but Jaune wasn't sure. Though it didn't seem like anything was overtly wrong at the moment, he reached for his walkie talkie.

"Pyrrha you can bring them in, the lobby is clear so you can hold out in here." Jaune said before releasing the talk function. After a few moments the doors behind them opened and he could hear them coming in as the door closed shut with a click.

"It's empty?" Bolin asked incredulous but Jaune ignored him as he approached the front desk. A large model telescope was carved into the wood paneling behind it but he couldn't read the name as a dark red color was sprayed across it.

Jaune frowned before climbing up on the counter and looked down.

He wasn't surprised to see a dead woman there. She looked to be in her mid-thirties, wearing a blue blouse with a black skirt that reached her knees. He had to admit if it wasn't for the grey skin and dried blood that had pooled around her; he would have said that she was pretty attractive.

Shaking his head he jumped down next to her and kneeled down to examine her wounds. Her throat was a messy mass of torn skin and flesh but she also had two jagged holes in her torso.

Jaune stuck his finger into one of the holes, he gagged a little as he did that but at least he was sure they had come from a gun.

This meant two things obviously; zombies were in fact nearby and someone had killed them or at least killed this one with a gun.

"Find anything?" Ren asked and Jaune turned to see his friend walking up towards the desk.

"Yea, there's a dead body." He could see Ren pause at that but he quickly continued walking though he could see that the teen was moving a little more stiffly now.

"You don't have to come over here." Jaune said but Ren walked around the desk to look at the body then he narrowed his eyes as he scrutinized the body.

"Someone shot her?" He asked as he looked at Jaune.

"Seems like it."

"Does that mean that we'll find people still alive?" Jaune shrugged.

"Maybe but the only way to figure that out is if we look around." Ren nodded and the two of them returned to the rest of the group.

"Alright Nora, Ren, we'll split up to cover as much ground as we can. Ren you take the left hallway while Nora take's the right." Jaune pointed at each hallway he could see before gesturing to a staircase on the far side of the lobby from where they were.

"I'll head upstairs, make sure if you find anything of note that you report it over the walkie talkie." Jaune unslung his backpack and pulled his notebook out.

"Pyrrha if you want, can you write down what we find?" The redhead nodded as she took the notebook.

"If we don't find any other survivors then we'll meet back here in thirty minutes and leave. Oh and of course if we find any zombies then all of us will return to the lobby immediately, understand?" Everyone nodded.

"Then let's go."

* * *

 **Ten Minutes Later…**

Jaune slowly opened a door to the main observation room; there he could see a large telescope built into the center of the room. No one was inside and nor was the overhead door open as such the only light that illuminated the large room was the various florescent light panels on the walls.

However he immediately noticed a peculiar smell that permeated in the room. Walking around the large telescope he could see several figures lying on the ground.

Aiming his rifle at them he approached slowly, they were all dead that much he could tell. As he got closer he could see that most of them were students around his age along with a man and woman who looked to be staff members judging by their attire.

If he had to guess the two staff workers had been attacked by the students as the bodies of the workers had been practically torn apart. The lower half of the man's face had been ripped away revealing bloody teeth while his shirt was shredded revealing the pinkish grey of entrails.

The woman had the flesh of her arms gnawed to the point that bone could be seen in several spots. Her face was locked in terror, blood from her torn shoulder and neck had splattered onto her face completing the image of death that had befallen her.

Kneeling down next to one of the students, he pushed a short hair girl over to see that she had her elbow and back gnawed on. He however could also see three peculiar holes in her torso; someone had shot her as well.

Picking up his rifle he looked around again. Someone did have a gun in the observatory but the question remained on what happened to the wielder.

Jaune continued to walk around the telescope when he noticed another hallway, there were more bodies lying on the ground in it. Raising his rifle he aimed it at the bodies as he slowly approached the pile but nothing moved.

As he drew closer he could see that it was three security guards and half a dozen bodies of other staff members or people that had been visiting.

"Hands up." A voice said carefully and Jaune looked up to see a short bald man with the uniform of a security guard pointing a revolver at him. Jaune let go of his rifle letting it dangle from his vest as he had clipped it on before they had arrived.

"Who are you?" The man asked as he stepped forward.

"My name's Jaune Arc, I'm a soldier with the Valean Army stationed at Mountain Glenn." The man narrowed his eyes.

"How do I know you're telling the truth?"

"I can prove it if you stop pointing that gun at me." Jaune was almost certain that the man wasn't going to lower the gun but surprisingly he did.

"Alright kid, I'm not your enemy but I don't like being lied too." The man said but Jaune shook his head.

"Then you're in luck since I'm not lying." Jaune said as the man tucked the gun in a holster at his hip.

"So are you really a soldier?" The man asked again eyeing him and Jaune shook his hand a little as he held it up.

"Well, I'm with the Army but I'm not a regular soldier more like a civilian volunteer."

"Volunteer for what?" He asked and Jaune gestured towards him.

"To be a Military Auxiliary in order to help people trapped outside of the city, scavenge supplies for the Army to take or scout the area out for them to advance." The man nodded as he crossed his arms.

"So you're here to help us?" Jaune nodded.

"Most of my team is already looking around to make sure the building is safe and I've got another teammate with some people we found down the road from here waiting at the lobby."

"Well shit, I'm actually surprised to see a youngster like you taking responsibly so seriously." The man said, obviously impressed with Jaune but for some reason it rubbed him the wrong way.

"Yea, well, when you're family dies to zombies it's hard not to take responsibility." Jaune said as he kept his face neutral. The man coughed into his fist at that as he looked away now then turned away from Jaune. Jaune didn't like bringing it up as it not only brought up those dreadful feelings but it sounded as if he was somehow using it as an excuse for his actions.

"Right, well, come with me kid. I think there are others you should meet." Jaune followed the older man as they walked through the hallway. He could see various paintings of the moon and space on the wall. Normally he would have been bored at looking at these sorts of things as it always went over his head.

Now though he honestly wished he could just stand there and figure out the more complex concepts of astronomy. He smiled a little at that thought, had someone told him he would miss school someday he would have called them crazy.

Then again he would have thought them to be a lunatic if they had warned him earlier in his life that zombies would come for all of them.

The security guard stopped next to a pair of door then knocked three times on it. Jaune could hear the sound of heavy objects being moved aside before the doors opened up to reveal a group of men.

"Did you find them Brad?" One of the men asked and the security guard nodded.

"This is their leader." The security pointed at Jaune.

"But he's just a kid." One of them pointed out.

"Well apparently he says he's with the Army and I've got no reason to not trust him." The security guard said as he shrugged.

"I guess you two should come in then." The lead man said and the group parted in the middle allowing them to walk in.

Looking around Jaune could see that it was one of those star projection rooms as he could see that the solar system was floating on the ceiling. There were dozens of people standing or sitting in the room, Jaune did take note that most of them were in fact students.

"Who the hell is that?" Someone called out.

"So do you have a plan?" Brad said as he turned around to look at Jaune.

"Yup, we're gonna get you all out of here." Jaune said and people around him started to talk excitedly.

"Promise?" The man asked and Jaune held his hand out which he took.

"I promise." He smiled as another security officer stepped forward.

"Boss, did you tell him about the conference hall?" Brad shook his head then looked at Jaune again.

"How many people are in your team?" Jaune raised an eyebrow.

"Four including me." The man seemed to pale at that.

"Tell them not to go into the conference hall; we sacrificed too much to get them all in there." Jaune felt an icy sense of dread fill his stomach as he realized what the man meant, he pulled out his walkie talkie.

"Ren, Nora, where are you guys?" Jaune asked then released the talk function.

"I'm in the cafeteria." Nora reported.

"I've just finished the offices and gonna go check out the conference hall." Ren said and everyone around Jaune started talking furiously that Jaune couldn't get a word edgewise.

"ENOUGH." The second security guard shouted.

"Tell him to stay away from there." Brad said and Jaune nodded.

"Ren, I'm with the survivors and they're telling me to tell you not to go near the conference hall. I think that's where the rest of the zombies are."

"Shit." Ren said after a few moments.

"Wait you found them Jaune?" Pyrrha's voice came over the walkie talkie.

"Yup, I'm gonna start having them head down to the lobby soon." Jaune looked at the security guard who nodded.

"Alright everyone! Pack it up! We're finally leaving!" A new wave of excited chatter passed over the crowd.

"How many people do you have here?" Jaune asked.

"Last count was fifty two." Jaune pursed his lips at that, with that there would be sixty of them and that would be difficult to defend.

"Do you have the keys to your vehicles; we don't have the means to transport you ourselves." The security guard looked at him.

"You don't have any transports with you?" Jaune shook his head.

"We didn't think we'd encounter this many people."

"Can't you radio it in with the Army to bring more transports here?" Jaune shrugged.

"Maybe but it'll mean we'll have to wait here until they gather enough transports then there's wait time for the distance they have to go." Jaune pointed out and the man nodded.

"Yea I guess it'll be best for us just to drive there."

"There are school buses out there; they would take care of most of your people." The man rubbed his chin.

"True, I'll organize my people then. You can return to the lobby if you want." Brad said.

"Alright then." Jaune turned away and people thanked him as he walked past him. A few patted him on his back or shook his hand; one girl even kissed his cheek. Which he found to be over the top but understandable at the same time all things considered.

Jaune stepped out into the hallway and looked to his left then right half expecting to see zombies waiting for him. Alas there was nothing except for the noise of the people in the projection hall behind him.

He jogged back the way he came, passing the corpses that were left in their same spots as he first saw them. At first he wanted to move them out of the way so the people didn't have to look at them but he decided against it.

It didn't feel right just to move a body for the false comfort of another people. They needed to remember that there's still a danger out in the world.

As he made it back to the lobby he could see Pyrrha standing watching near a window that overlooked the parking lot while Arslan by the receptionist desks looking between the first floor hallways. Reese, Bolin, and Nadir were just sitting in the middle of the lobby talking.

"Is everything clear out there?" Jaune called out as he descended the steps and Pyrrha looked at him.

"As far as I can see it's clear, no zombies or people are out there." She said as Jaune got closer to her then looked out the window as well. She did feel slightly annoyed that she couldn't help earlier but after having some time alone to think she knew that he made the right decision keeping her here.

"So how many people were there?" Pyrrha asked.

"Fifty two people." Jaune said.

"Whoa, that's a lot of people."

"True but I'm thinking that's not as many as there should be." Pyrrha frowned.

"What do you mean?" Jaune gestured at the parking lot.

"There are three school buses here and the parking lot is almost completely full, aside from a few dead bodies, I don't think that this accounts for most of the people. I get the feeling that when they locked the conference hall with the undead that there was far more of them than the living." Jaune explained.

"Well crap." Pyrrha said as she turned around to see Nora and Ren appearing from the hallways.

"Welcome back." Pyrrha said as she walked towards them.

"Where are the survivors?" Ren asked and Pyrrha shrugged.

"They're coming; they just to get their stuff together." Jaune said as he joined them.

"So you guys didn't find anything?" Jaune asked as he looked at Nora.

"Nope." She said as she shook her head.

"No but I apparently was going to if you hadn't stopped me." Ren said.

"Actually Ren, I'm going to need you to come with me." Jaune said and the magenta eye teen frowned.

"Where to?" Jaune gestured to the hallway he had come out of.

"I'm curious to see how many zombies are in there." Ren frowned.

"Do you really think that's a good idea?" Jaune shook his head.

"Not really but it's a part of our mission to inform the Army what we find so we shouldn't give them a vague number."

"But Jaune, I don't think the zombies are just going to let you count how many there are." Jaune scratched his head.

"True but how else are we going to find out how many there are?"

"Why not just look at the security cameras." Nora asked and the three of them looked at her.

"What? Did you not notice that there are security cameras here?" She asked and pointed up. The three of them followed her finger and could see a small camera that covered the lobby.

"Well slap my knee and call me grandpa, she's right." Jaune said and Pyrrha snorted as she tried to stop herself from laughing.

"What?" Jaune asked and turned to see his friends trying to conceal their laughter.

"W-What did you say? Pyrrha asked.

"I said slap my knee and call me grandpa, what's so funny?"

"Hahaha that's so stupid!" Nora said as started to laugh loudly, Jaune's face turned red.

"It's not funny." He said but Nora just continued to laugh.

"I'm just gonna go." Jaune said as he left the three of them laughing there.

* * *

 **Five Minutes Later…**

Brad, Jaune and Ren entered the security room. It was a simple room with desks lining three of the wall while two chairs were positioned in front of a row of eight screens.

"I'm glad you asked to come here, I've got a bottle of Brandy in my desk that I was hoping I could get." Brad said as he walked towards a second door, Ren and Jaune approached the screens.

"Which one is the convention hall?" Jaune asked and Ren pointed at screen.

"Here." Jaune leaned in and could see that the screen had a small sticker under it that said conference hall. However something was wrong, very wrong.

"I don't see anything." Jaune said and Ren leaned in as well.

"Maybe there's a second conference hall." He said and Jaune stood up straight.

"Hey Brad!"

"What!" The older man yelled from the other room.

"Is there a second conference hall?"

"There's actually only one, why do you ask?" He replied as he stepped out of the room holding onto a half full bottle.

"There's nothing in the conference hall." The bottle shattered on the floor as Brad dropped it, the look of horror in his eyes was telling that they were all indeed in trouble.

People started to scream and gunshots could be heard in the distance.

"Shit."

* * *

 **Elsewhere…**

The first thing Taiyang was aware of was the pain in his shoulder. Opening his eyes slowly he could see that he was inside a building.

Turning his head left and right he could see a window to either side of him, he began to get up slowly but the pain flared in his shoulder so he decided to continue laying there.

"Great." He whispered to himself. He didn't know how serious his injury was but he knew it would definitely cripple his ability to survive on his own.

As he lay there he tried to remember what exactly had happened. He knew he had been running away from zombies and some crazy guy but he had been injured.

Looking down at his shoulder he could see that it was bandaged, he must have passed out at some point. The real question though he realized wasn't how was he still alive but who saved him.

"Thank god, you're finally awake." A cool voice asked and Taiyang froze in his spot as his recent run in with another survivor proved to be a very bad ordeal. A figure appeared in his vision but the overhead light made it difficult to see who it was.

"Here, let me help you up." Taiyang gritted his teeth in pain as he slowly sat up with the assistance of the person; he could tell it was a woman by her hands and voice.

"I found you by the road next to your bike. I was however able to clean and bandage your stab wound along with the injuries you sustained from falling off your bike." She said and he could hear the sorrow in her voice as if she had done something wrong.

"Thank you, you save my life." Taiyang said as he blinked his eyes a few time to adjust his vision then looked at her.

She was slightly above average height with pale skin and dark red hair. She wore nurse scrubs that were covered in dried blood, none of which looked to be hers. He narrowed his eyes as he stared her down.

"Who are you?" She smiled apologetically.

"I'm sorry."

* * *

 **Oh dear, I wonder who could that be?**

 **Though I suppose it's fairly obvious in figuring out who these new people are, I never could keep a secret.**

 **Alas the question remains, who's safe and who isn't? We'll let fate decide.**

 **As always I encourage you all to leave your thoughts and opinions in the Review Section about the Chapter or PM me about it as I'm more than willing to talk to any and all of you.**

 **I will say that the next chapter for The Lost Son may take a little extra time, as I'm currently working more on a general outline of elements that are or will be included in the story.**

 **As always thanks for reading.**

 **Till Next Time!**


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Qrow opened the front door of the apartment complex. Ciel Soleil, Karen, and Mina all stood waiting for him.

"Where have you been?" Mina asked as the older man stepped through the threshold but instead of answering he simply sniffed and scratched his nose.

"Qrow." Mina said as she stepped in front of him, making sure to get in his vision. She sighed when she realized what he was doing.

"Hello Qrow." She said and the older man smiled giving a wink towards Karen who just laughed.

"Why Mina, I didn't see you there. How are you?" Qrow asked cheerfully.

"Where have you been? Ciel said you got called out for a meeting with someone important." She pressed but Qrow just shrugged.

"Importance is all relative. I find sleeping to be far more important than doing paperwork from a crime scene but I still take both of them seriously." He said as he leaned one hand against a wall on his right but Mina crossed her arms. He took great pleasure in seeing the twitch of annoyance in her face but he knew he shouldn't mess around for too long.

"Welp, to answer your question I went to go talk with Winter Schnee." He explained.

"A Schnee?" Mina repeated wrinkling her brow at that.

"Shocking I know."

"A little, why do you know a Schnee?"

"Well she knows her little sister is here so she came by to check on her."

"Sure, then why didn't she actually come in?"

"Well I told her that Weiss was doing fine and she took my word for it. Since, you know, I'm a responsible adult."

"Riiight. Then why did you just now come back inside?"

"Because she had a favor to ask of me."

"And what favor could Winter Schnee ask of you?"

"I don't know what you're trying to insinuate and it's kind of annoying so let's get this over with. She asked if we could watch over someone for her." This got their attention.

"Who?" Qrow shrugged as he gestured over his shoulder with a thumb.

"The kiddo is still out there for some reason, I told her to come in with me but I guess she's a bit shy." Qrow turned away from them then headed out the door. Mina exchanged looks with Karen and Ciel as they could hear Qrow speaking with someone outside.

"Alright, no need to be shy now kid. They're all good people, well, expect for the blonde ones but don't tell them I said that." Mina could hear a soft laugh at that. The door opened wide and Mina was surprised to see a young girl standing in front of her. Qrow, who was standing behind her, put a hand on the younger girl's shoulder.

"It's alright." Mina couldn't help but notice the parental tone in the older man's voice. This didn't come to much of a surprise considering what she heard about Ruby and Yang's home life.

"Hi there, my name's Mina Arc." She said as she took a few steps forward with her hand held out as she noticed the look of apprehension in the girl's green eyes, the girl took her hand.

"My name's Penny Polendina."

* * *

 **10 Minutes Later…**

Everyone was seated in the living room of the apartment. Qrow had finished explaining why he brought this new girl at the behest of Winter Schnee; Weiss was the first to speak up.

"So I get it why my sister would want us to take you in but I'm confused why she felt like it was supposed to be some big secret." She said turning to look at the orange hair girl.

"I can't say as well but I'm still grateful that Ms. Schnee has helped me." Penny said.

"Well I think it's great, we've got a new member to our group." Ruby said flashing a bright smile at the young girl.

"Well who wants to explain this to Jaune when he comes back?" Blake asked.

"Who?" Penny asked.

"Jaune, he's our group leader and technically I guess he's also a Captain." Karen said looking at Ciel who nodded.

"That's right, Jaune Arc is considered to be the Captain of the 1st Auxiliary Combat Group. Right now he's currently on a scouting mission with three other members of the group and he'll need to know as it's required in the contract that he's signed to notify the Government on the updated roster of additional members recruited or gained."

"Speaking of Jaune, when do you think he and the others will be back?" Yang asked from the back.

"I'd imagine that he should be finishing up his mission right about now." Ciel said as she pulled back her sleeve to look at a wristwatch.

"What was his mission?" Helena asked.

"I think he was supposed to scout out a rest station and Observatory." Karen spoke up, Sun snorted.

"Man that's so easy."

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

Jaune, Ren and Brad sprinted down the hallway as the sounds of conflict raged ahead of them. As Jaune turned the corner to reach the main lobby he could feel his heart hammering against his ribs at the thought of Nora or Pyrrha getting hurt.

As he reached the flight of his he looked over to see Pyrrha, Arslan, Nora, and one of the other security guards firing their weapons.

"Brad take you guy then make sure the people get out safely! Ren, you're with me!" Jaune shouted as he thudded down the steps two at a time. He didn't hear any of their answers as he ran up to stand to Pyrrha's right. He raised his rifle and saw the oncoming mass of dead people charging at them.

He braced as he squeeze the trigger, the rifle bucked hard as he pour multiple rounds in the wall of flesh. Bullets stitched paths of misty blood as they ripping into the bodies.

Some of the dead bodies that they shot didn't immediately fall down; the press of bodies behind them seemed to carry them much further than they should. This was also a bad thing as those bodies acted as a sort of barrier that slowed or stopped the bullets.

The rifle bolt clicked, Jaune pulled the magazine out then let it drop as he pulled a fresh one out then slammed it into the magazine well before hitting the bolt release. Normally he would have tucked the empty magazine into a pouch as they could just put new rounds into it but he didn't have the time as the undead got closer.

"We're gonna start pulling back one by one!" Jaune shouted over the roar of gun fire.

"Arslan! You go first!" He shouted glancing at the dark skin girl who was struggling to load new shells into her shotgun. She didn't look like she heard him as she finally brought the shotgun up to her shoulder then fired twice then she stood up and fired three more times before turning around to run.

"Nora! You're next! Empty then move!" Jaune ordered as he started switching back and forth firing quick bursts. Nora got up and left leaving but the undead were now too close as well, he couldn't pull back one by one.

"Everyone start moving, Pyrrha go first, Ren you'll follow and cover me." Jaune called out and they started pulling back slowly.

"Jaune come on!" Ren called out from behind him and he began back stepping as he loaded a new magazine with his weapon. The undead finally reached the threshold and began to spill in every direction. Jaune could see a few breaking off to the sides; they were going to get overwhelmed in here.

"You guys hurry up!" Nora's voice called out from further back, Jaune didn't dare look back however as he fired several more short bursts. The bloody mist blossomed from the bodies of multiple people as the rifle rounds struck them.

"Jaune run!" Pyrrha shouted and he finally looked over his shoulder as he fired wildly from the hip. The others were by the front door firing their weapons as well. His rifle clicked dry and he looked forward to see a woman with a bloody shirt and torn skin from bite marks on her shoulder reaching out for him.

He let go of his rifle, it tugged at him from his leash as it hanged at his side. He drew his Glock and pulled the trigger as quick as he could. The flurry of nine millimeter rounds ripped into her torso and she fell forward but not entirely dead as she twisted violently on the ground.

More of them were closing in and Jaune stumbled back slipping on the marble floor then turned to start sprinting towards the front door.

"Come on!" Ren shouted as he finished reloading his own rifle then fired a long burst into a pair of teens that had the skin and flesh torn from their arms. Jaune ran past him towards the outside, Ren and Brad closed the door while the other security guard quickly locked it.

Jaune looked at the parking lot and could see most of the people were piling into cars then taking speeding off down the road. A few of them crashed or skimmed off other cars as whoever was driving them moved with reckless abandoned. Even one of the buses was also being filled up with far more people than it could seat.

"This door won't hold." Ren said from behind him and Jaune turned to see it was already looking strained at the bodies on the other side piled against it.

"We need to get out of here as fast as possible." Arslan said.

"Not yet." Jaune interjected as he finished loading a fresh magazine into both of his weapons.

"Why not?"

"Cause we need to make sure no one is left behind."

"So we're leaving last then?" Pyrrha asked.

"Yup but I think Bolin, Reese, and Nadir can go on ahead to get the cars then come back here to pick us up. The last of the survivors should be gone by the time they get back up here." Jaune said as he looked towards the front entrance of the observatory. He couldn't help but feel like it was straining at the hinges.

"That makes sense." Arslan said as she fished out the keys to their SUV then handed it to Reese while Jaune gave his to Bolin.

"Alright, Arslan and Nora you two need to direct the traffic make sure everyone keeps moving smoothly. Pyrrha, Ren we're watching the entrance if you see opening for the zombies to come out of then call it out." He looked around at all of them.

"Well? What are you waiting for? Go!" He said gesturing them away with a wave of a hand. He walked towards the center of the parking lot; a few cars pulled out then drove past him. In the corner of his eye he could see them watching him as they left.

He smiled; it was strange to see those looks. For they weren't the normal looks of pity he had received most of his life, no they were the looks of shame. It was the shame in watching a teenager that hadn't even graduated High School who was now keeping them safe as the undead came for them.

Jaune glanced at Pyrrha and Ren who began taking up spots at the far end of the parking lot. Their weapons were pointed towards the large building. He wondered if they saw what he saw, he shook his head; of course not it was all in his head.

Looking back up he continued to watch the entrance of the building but nothing came out, minutes passed and it became obvious that for the time being that they were safe. He kneeled down; unslinging his backpack then quickly pulled his notebook out as he set the rifle on the ground beside him.

"Jaune what are you doing?" Pyrrha asked as she walked over to see him writing something.

"I'm making a note for the report that I'm going to have to make after this, the Observatory is not clear of undead and that we were unable to clear them out."

"Do you think they'll have us come back here to clean it out?" Pyrrha asked as she kept a wary eye on the building.

"I'm not sure; but I doubt that's what's going to happen though since we piled a bunch of mechanic supplies down at the rest station. If anything they might just have a squad or two come here to clear them out or if anything just torch the building." Jaune said as he finished writing.

"I hope not." Pyrrha said and Jaune glanced up at her.

"Why not?"

"I guess it probably has to do with this being a place of learning. Knowledge is kept here and Humanity is dependent on the knowledge it has now without it we'd go back in time."

"True but some might say that this knowledge and technology has only changed the look of what we were but it hasn't changed what we are."

"Maybe but I still think it would be best to avoid destroying places like this."

"I agree, if we ever the longer it takes to rebuild the longer it will take for things to go back to relative normal." The two of them looked over to see that Nora was jogging up to them.

"All the cars are on the move." She said and Jaune nodded as he stood up slinging his backing onto his back again.

"Alright, we'll continue watching the building in case any of them manage to get out but other than that I think we're done here."

* * *

 **Elsewhere…**

Neo sat in a lawn chair on the roof of the motel, below her the soldiers and civilians that had come back from their successful attack were celebrating.

She found it tiresome to be around people like that so she decided to grab some stuff then find a nice place to relax. Now she was enjoying a good drink and cigar which she had graciously taken from Roman's stock.

At the same time she there was something that bothered her about everything. It had to do with the night she had first encountered the marauder group.

There was a woman who had nearly killed her. She, as far as Neo was aware, was the leader of this group. She had asked Roman if she asked spotted someone like her during the attack but he hadn't seen anyone that would have matched that role of leader.

This meant that she wasn't present at the attack which left bad taste in her mouth at that thought of a job incomplete. Alas she couldn't devote the time to hunting this woman down.

Roman was planning on moving the group back north in hopes of assessing the situation going with the main Valean Army. Neo wasn't sure what he was planning after that but it didn't really seem like a big concern for her at the moment so she'll continue to follow him.

In the distance Neo could see nothing but lifeless land, all that stirred was the glass or trees under the pressure of wind. Now that she thought about it, she didn't remember the last time she actually saw wildlife, there weren't even any birds around.

Sighing, she unscrewed the cap of her bottle then took a long swig from it. The burn of the alcohol sent a nice warmth throughout her body.

"I see you're enjoying yourself." A familiar voiced asked from behind her, she didn't answer as she already knew who it was.

"Come on, not even going to say hi?" Roman asked as he appeared in her vision, she smiled a little as he already knew the answer to that question.

"I guess it was silly of me to ask." She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Yes, yes, whatever." He said as he walked further away to sit on the ledge of the rooftop looking out at the distant lands surrounding them.

"I've been thinking." He started before lighting up a cigar then taking a quick puff.

"I've been thinking that something went wrong when we hit that bandit group." Neo cocked her head to the side.

"You're gonna think I'm an idiot but I feel like it was a mistake rising to the challenge in attacking them. We should have just packed up and left when we beat them back the first time. We've lost more than a dozen men with nearly twenty wounded along with a lot of supplies used up." Roman took another puff from his cigar as he thought.

"Something's coming." Roman said as he stood up and tossed his cigar over the side of the building. Neo stood up as well and followed his gaze.

From the south a black SUV was speeding towards them. Neo gritted her teeth as she set down her bottle then ran to find her rifle.

"Listen up! We got an unknown coming! Look alive down there!" Roman yelled as he leaned over the side. His people began scattering as they prepared themselves, he looked up to see the SUV beginning to slow down.

He wasn't sure if it was a scout or messenger but he wasn't going to go in unprepared. He turned around to see Neo carrying her M110 rifle then began to set it up on the ledge. Turning away from her he headed towards the roof access to go and meet whoever was coming.

* * *

 **A Few Minutes Later…**

Roman walked slowly to the street outside the motel. Several of the soldiers who had been on patrol were standing behind him. The others were either still getting ready or taken up positions to cut off any escape for the SUV if things went badly.

The mysterious vehicle came close then began to slow down before stopping in the middle of the street. Roman waited patiently as the doors opened and four people came out it.

All of them wore grey fatigues with black tactical vests and carried IWI Tavor bullpup rifles along with thigh holstered handguns. One of them however, a short green hair girl, carried a second handgun on her left thigh as well.

Roman pursed his lips a little at that as they didn't look like soldiers but two of them carried an air about them that suggested past time in the service. However the lead two were nothing but simple brats as far as he was aware.

"What can I help you with?" Roman called out.

"I think the real question you should be asking is. How can we help you?" The short girl responded.

"Look I'm no mood to be these childish games you're probably so fond of. So spit it out, who are you and what do you want." The person next to her, a silver hair teen with a look on his face that either suggested he was constipated or angry, stepped forward.

"Listen old man, you better watch that tone or something is going to happen that you'll regret." He said and Roman just chuckled as he relighted his cigar then took a deep puff before exhaling cloud of smoke.

"Look kid, I don't know if you're blind or just stupid but whatever threat you think you'll be able to carry about against me you'll never live to find out. Now step back say sorry and tell me what you want." Roman said and the silver hair teen snarled but stepped back.

"Our leader wants to propose a deal; in exchange of information we will provide free manpower along with a selected amount of supplies." The girl hair girl said as she stepped forward pulling out a sheet of paper from the inside of her vest. Roman took it from her and stepped back as he had the sinking feeling that letting her too close wouldn't be a smart idea.

"My, my, a little nervous aren't you?" She said but Roman scoffed as he brushes his shoulders.

"I just did my laundry; I rather not get the stench of something rotten on them so soon." She frowned slightly at that but Roman waved her away.

"Begone." He said simply as he turned to walk away leaving the four of them there. He could hear them grumble as he walked away, something's not right here.

He wasn't sure what the plan was here and he didn't like it. If whoever this leader was is willing to go out of their way just to set up a connection then that meant they were looking for something or someone. The question however remained.

To what end are they willing to keep their side of this near benevolent deal?

He opened the letter. The handwriting showed signs of a meticulous and controlled person. Most people never took Graphology serious but when he was in college he found that it was quite a useful tool. The more he looked at it the more he had a hard time understanding the person.

Though to be fair he could just be very rusty at it as being in the Army meant there wasn't that much of a need to keep the skill. If he had to guess though, whoever this person was they were highly intelligent, calm, calculating with underlying brutality.

He hoped he never had to meet them.

* * *

 **Elsewhere…**

Jaune pulled into the now crowded parking lot of the rest station. All around him he could see people cheering and laughing amongst each other at the fact they finally made it outside again.

He stopped back a grey sedan where Brad was leaning against the trunk. The older man was smoking a cigarette and looked to be enjoying it.

"Hey kid, nice to see you made it back down as well." The older man called out as Jaune and the others got out of the Grand Cherokee.

"Well we had to make sure that none of the zombies got out while your people escaped. Though I'm surprised your still here I figured your people would be already heading towards Mountain Glenn." The older man shrugged.

"And leave behind the people who risked their necks to save us? I can only speak for myself really but I think most of us wouldn't leave you guys behind." The man said as he stuck out a hand which Jaune took.

"Thanks kid, I mean it."

"It's not a problem; I know you would have done the same thing if things were reversed." The man shrugged, Jaune let go of his hand and pulled out his walkie talkie then held it out for him.

"What's this for?" Brad asked as he furrowed his eyebrows to look at it.

"Like I said you'll be leading your people but when it's time to switch we'll need you to contact us when you see we're close to Mountain Glenn. You can talk to any of my teammates on this and I'll probably be close enough to respond then as well." Jaune explained and the man nodded as he took the device then tucked it into his shirt pocket. Jaune looked up at the sky, shielding his eyes with one arm. The sun was starting to dip even lower; he wanted to get back to the city before nightfall.

"Well I guess we should start heading out, can you get your people ready to leave?" The man nodded and Jaune turned away and saw Pyrrha who had two guys chatting animatedly with her. Jaune felt a frown grow as his face a little at that then walked over.

"Hey Pyrrha." He called out as he stood to her right, one arm cradling the Stag rifle which was redundant since he had a strap that allowed it to hang on his torso giving him the ability to use both hands. The message he was wanted to convey however was noticed as the two teens excused themselves.

He felt a small smile touch his face as he watched the two of them retreat. Both of whom were giving him interesting looks at having done what he had. Pyrrha however was staring at him with a raised eyebrow at the display.

"What was that?" She asked a half amused and bemused tone lacing her voice.

"Uh, I wanted to ask if you can call Ren and Nora back as we should be getting ready to leave. I gave my radio to Brad so he can talk with us during the trip." Jaune explained hoping to cover up his actions.

"That's interesting since Ren and Nora are right there." Pyrrha said pointing over his shoulder and he looked to see the two of them smiling at him.

"What's this Nora, I think little Jauney here is jealous of the attention Pyrrha got." Ren said in a loud conspiratorial whisper.

"My I think you're right Ren but I would say he's also being very protective which Mama Nora likes." The shorter girl said with an ever growing grin on her face.

"Just, get ready to move." Jaune said as he covered his eyes with one hand. Ren and Nora walked away both laughing. Nora was obviously much louder in her joy of the current situation that Jaune was in.

"Soooo, were you really jealous?" Pyrrha asked with a knowing smile as she walked into his vision with her hands behind her back. Jaune wanted to be annoyed at the question but seeing Pyrrha smile was enough to make him smile.

"Okay, okay, fine. Maybe I was a tad bit annoyed that those two guys were talking to you." He said and Pyrrha surprisingly giggled at hearing that before stepping closer to him. He swore a fire was burning in her eyes as she quickly kissed his cheek.

Jaune was sure that his face was as red as Pyrrha's hair while she had bright pink cheeks at what she just did.

"I'm happy to know you were jealous." She said softly as a warm smile blossomed on her face before she turned to head towards the Grand Cherokee.

"What does that even mean?" He whispered to himself then headed towards the vehicle. He opened the passenger door and climbed in as did the others. Jaune pulled the magazine out of his Stag rifle then cleared the weapon of its chambered round. The others did so as well though Nora just locked the slide and hit her safety while going through the effort of pulling the shells out.

"Alright, we're all good?" Jaune asked looking at everyone.

"I'm good." Nora reported.

"Clear." Ren said as he pulled back the charging handle three times before tucking the unloaded rifle to the right hand side of his seat.

"I'm clear as well." Pyrrha reported and Jaune nodded before looking at Ren.

"Alright Ren you can start but if you wanna switch spots during the drive then let me know and I'll switch with you." Jaune said and Ren nodded as he started the jeep. In front of them Jaune could see the other cars pulling out to begin their trip to Mountain Glenn. As they all settled in for the drive Jaune couldn't help but feel heaviness in his eyelids as he struggled to keep them open.

It had had been an exhausting day and all of his adrenaline from earlier was now gone. When he had been running to join Pyrrha and the others he had felt a mix of emotions along with the adrenaline of the fight. It had warmed his body and seemed to have given him extra strength to fight against the undead. Now his body was cold and stiff as it yearned for rest.

"Jaune you can go to sleep if you want." Ren said from the driver seat.

"Hmm I guess I should." Jaune said slowly as he rubbed one eye with the back of his hand then leaned his head against the passenger window. The cool glass felt surprisingly pleasant as he finally closed his eyes, drifting slowly to sleep.

* * *

 **Later…**

"WATCH OUT!" Someone screamed and Jaune was flung forward into the airbags as they exploded towards him. Pain vibrated through his body and he started to yell as an unseen force pulled him hard against the seatbelt as the Grand Cherokee flipped over.

Jaune opened his eyes to see them flipping over as they headed towards the side of the road. His seatbelt, which had locked him in place as it was the only thing that kept him from bouncing around the inside of the jeep.

As they hit something else, Jaune's head snapped sideways and there was a painful explosion as his head struck the window cracking it.

Everything went dark.

* * *

 **Sometime Later…**

Pain radiated from his head as a seemingly loud steady beat pulsed in his skull. Jaune forced his eyes open and felt bile rise up but he forced it down as he looked around.

The Grand Cherokee was on its right side and he was lying against broken sharp glass that pressed painful against him.

"Guys?" Jaune croaked out as he did another look around him but he was surprised to see that no one else was in there with him. Shoving the deflated airbag aside he undid his seatbelt then began to pat himself down for any significant injury.

Aside from a sore and tender body he didn't think anything was truly wrong with him. However he noticed that a number of pouches on his vest were empty.

Looking down he could see that it all the remaining Stag rifle magazines were missing. Admittedly he didn't have a lot of them to begin with as he spent almost half of his magazines in the brief fight in the Observatory.

Pursing his lips he couldn't see his rifle as well, so he had to assume that someone had taken the stuff off him. Which brought a startling question, where did the others go?

He needed to get out of the jeep and see what was going on. In the distance he swore he could hear the sound of fighting, the occasional bursts or rattle of small arms fire echoed.

The windshield in front of him was thoroughly cracked so Jaune tucked his legs in and kicked out with both feet. The windshield bent at the force but didn't come off immediately so he continued to kick at it for a minute or so before it finally fell away.

He crawled forward out wincing as his hands touched more broken glass as he got out of the jeep. Standing up Jaune stretched his back as he looked around; the jeep was off the round and technically on the shoulder of the road.

Slowly walking around the jeep he looked towards the road and winced. Numerous cars were abandoned on the road stretching in front and behind him.

He also could see that there were a few bodies lying on the road, seeing this Jaune felt panic rise as he didn't see any other living person.

"Ren!? Nora!? Pyrrha!?" Jaune started to yell but forced himself from yelling anymore. It wasn't helping and it was just adding onto the rising sense of panic he was feeling.

He forced himself to calm down and ran a hand through his hair before setting off to the nearest car. A grey sedan that had its windows all rolled down. He pulled his Glock out and aimed it at the car as he got closer to it.

Looking inside however he could see that no one was in it. Sighing he holstered his handgun then pulled the door handle, the sedan's door opened and Jaune looked in to see that the whoever had left had taken their stuff with them.

Empty bottles and snack bags littered the floor. Sighing he pushed them aside to find anything useful but there wasn't anything. He looked at the ignition slot but it was empty, he frowned, if they had taken their keys then why leave the car behind?

Sighing he turned away from the sedan then jogged down the road to the next car, this one had apparently flipped like the Grand Cherokee and now as on its roof. Jaune got on his hands and knees and looked inside but he couldn't see anything useful as well.

"Shit." He said as he climbed back to his feet. Taking a deep breath as he ran a dirty hand through his hair he noticed a particular smell. Looking up he could see the sky was abnormally dark, sure it was getting late when they left the rest station but this was different.

Looking in the direction of Mountain Glenn he realized why the sky looked so dark.

In the distance, Mountain Glenn was on fire.

* * *

 **An Hour Later…**

Jaune stopped a few hundred yards from the newly constructed outer perimeter of Mountain Glenn. Concrete and chain linked fences that were layered to protect the city now stood battered in the gloom of the darkened sky.

Before them however was the signs of a battle, dozens upon dozens if not hundreds of bodies were scattered on the ground. Dark blood pooled on parts of the road unable to be absorbed into the earth like the aftermath of heavy rainfall.

As Jaune continued walking forward, he pulled out his Glock which he felt lucky to still have on him. It proved to be difficult to get closer as he had to step over a number of bodies but he had to step on them more often than not.

As he made his way closer to the fence he could see that the Army had a number of its vehicles park in front of the gate to the city. Raising his Glock he turned on the flashlight attachment then proceeded forward.

There however he could see numerous empty casings scattered on the ground with periodic splashes or puddles of blood. He didn't see that many bodies however and of those that he did see none of them were soldiers.

Jaune headed over to the first Humvee he found, aiming his Glock at it he whistled loudly. Nothing stirred and he released a slow breath before moving forward again.

He pulled one of the doors open and looked inside but it was empty. Climbing in he looked around to see if he could find a spare rifle or weapon but he realized that was pointless as even if he did find a rifle he had no spare magazines for it.

Sighing he climbed back out then looked towards the main gate. It was bent inward; a number of bodies were lying on or before it. An Army APC was situated behind it but the undead must have still gotten over if the position was abandoned.

"I need to get back to the others." Jaune whispered as he holstered his handgun then jogged towards the fence. He could see blood dropping from the chain link fence from the bodies that were still on it.

He grimaced as he reached out to pull a dead body aside before gripping the cold fence. As he climbed up on the fence he made careful movements to avoid the dead bodies.

Not because he wanted to respect the dead but to avoid the chance one of them might somehow still be alive then take a chunk out of him before he could fight.

Jaune finally reached the top then slowly stood up, legs shaking as he tried to keep his balance on the fence then leapt forward to avoid getting caught in the razor wire.

He landed with a thud on the asphalt then slowly stood up as he drew his Glock once more as he looked to his left and right. Thankfully nothing came at him; sadly there still wasn't anyone alive.

Looking once more towards the city, he could see that it wasn't on fire entirely but it did appear that there were more than a few uncontained fires that ate at the city.

Shifting his vest back and forth a little Jaune took off at a jog. He wanted to find a live human being and most importantly he needed to see if the others were alive of them that he wanted to find the most was Pyrrha.

Though he didn't know that they were actually in the city but it was the only idea that he could think of. If they didn't head to the city then where did they go and what didn't they take him with them?

He had so many questions yet the only answers he could think of were bad to really bad.

And that scared him.

* * *

 **Later…**

Jaune ducked behind a burnt car, in the distance the rattle and crack of small arms fire could be heard. What had him worried however was the screams that accompanied them.

Turning the flashlight attachment off he peered over the blackened body of the car, in the distance he could see a group of soldiers making a desperate stand at an intersection.

However the dead were steadily overrunning their position, the bodies of the undead threw themselves heedless of a few rounds to strike their bodies. Only the ones that took multiple hits went down for good as the others tore at the front rank of soldiers.

In the center was a pair of Armored Personnel Carrier. The gunners on the M2 machine guns had been pulled out of their seats by the swarming undead that dove into the blood bath. Though how the crew inside will deal with the situation he had no idea nor did he plan on sticking around to find out.

Looking to his right, he could see an alleyway that lay in the general direction of the apartment. Checking behind him and the slaughter up the street from him he made sure that nothing saw him as he ran in a crouch towards it.

As he entered the dark alleyway, he turned on his flashlight attachment again then held his Glock up as he slowly proceeded down it. If he was lucky he might actually be able to make it through the various streets by taking the alleyways without coming into too much contact with the undead.

Behind him the sounds of fighting slowly died away. A small wave of anxiety passed over him as he quickly turned the light off then kneeled in the darkness as he looked back the way he came.

A part of him felt that soon the mauled bodies of the undead would appear at the entrance to chase him down but nothing appeared. He wasn't sure how long he stayed there but after a while he decided to start moving again.

He looked up when something flashed; briefly illuminating the alleyway the dark sky had started to rain. For some reason Jaune couldn't help but feel that something strange was going on but he didn't understand it.

Jaune stood up then walked slowly forward, he kept the Glock pointed downward prevent the light from alerting anyone ahead of him but still illuminating his immediate surroundings.

As Jaune neared the end of the alleyway he could hear screaming. He broke into a jog then stopped at the opening. The street before him was littered with the dead and dying.

He could see zombies pulling down people before sinking their teeth into their flesh. Close to the sidewalk where he was he could see a woman look at him as two men with the flesh stripped from their faces and torso begin ripping open her clothes to get to her skin to devour.

She screamed loudly as tears streamed from her face as she cried out for him to help her, her screams didn't last long as the two dead men ripped open her stomach. Jaune slinked back into the shadows, his mind replaying the images of her frightened face as the life drained from it.

He needed to move, the smell of blood and death lingered too greatly in the air. He peered around the corner and could see that some of the undead were now wondering off as their prey was taken care off.

Down the street however he could see a small group crowding around the entrance of a shop or building. They clawed and moaned loudly at whatever it was that had their attention.

Yet none of them were in such an agitated state that they would throw themselves at the building so he had to wonder if there were other people in there.

"H-H-Help me." A voice whispered from nearby and Jaune felt a wave of fear run down his spine as he spun around. Only to find him pointing his Glock at the face of a young girl, one that didn't look to be older than ten years old and on top of that she reminded Jaune a lot of Nessa.

Jaune felt a lump in his throat as the girl was illuminated by the light of his Glock's attachment, she was covered in blood. He kneeled down and he girl seemed to shrink a little as he gestured for her to come towards him with his left hand.

"Come little one, I won't hurt you." She shook her head; Jaune tilted his head then decided to set the Glock on the ground but pointed towards the brick wall to his right. That way the light didn't shine in her face but still enough to let them see each other a little.

"I promise I won't hurt you little one, I just want to help but I need to make sure you're not hurt." Jaune said softly putting on as much warmth in his voice as he could. The young girl seemed a little hesitant as she shuffled back and forth on her feet before finally nodding.

"Alright then, are you hurt?" Jaune asked and the little girl shook her head.

"That's good and will you promise to tell me if you ever do get hurt?" She seemed to hesitate at that but nodded anyways.

"Do you know where your mommy and daddy are?" He asked and regretted that as she gingerly stepped past him towards the street then pointed. Jaune stood up then followed where she pointed and felt regret wash over him as she pointed to the woman he had let die earlier.

She was almost unrecognizable as the flesh had been ripped or eaten away from her face and torso. Blood oozed out onto the street as she lay there with a few lingering twitches in her hands and feet.

"Come away from there." Jaune said softly as he gripped her shoulders then guided her back into the alleyway then kneeled down in front of her.

"Do you know where your dad is?" He asked but she shook her head, Jaune sighed then looked up as he swore he heard movement but there wasn't anything there nor did anything come to attack them.

"Alright little one, would you like to come with me for the time being? I have to go find my loved ones as well then we can look for your father together." She nodded and Jaune smiled a little.

"What's your name little one?"

"Sileas."

"That's a pretty name, mine's Jaune Arc." Jaune turned around and walked back to the street. The zombies were almost entirely gone save for those that were still trying to get into a building; he turned to face the girl.

"We're gonna get to the other side of this street, stay close behind me and try not to make any unnecessary noises, alright?" She nodded as she stepped up beside him but he could see the terror in her eyes as she looked down at the street. It occurred to him that having her walk behind him at the moment might be a bad thing. He turned then knelt down before wrapping his left arm around her then lifted her up.

"We'll move like this for now but I'm gonna need your help to watch my back cause I don't have eyes in the back of my head." Jaune said before rubbing the back of his head then smiled.

"Yup, no eyes there." He said and the girl looked at him confused before reaching out to touch his head but she pulled away.

"You can check if you want, I don't mind." She touched the back of his head and for some reason it felt like she relaxed a little as if she really expected to find eyes in the back of his head.

"Ready?" She nodded and Jaune knelt down to pick up his Glock before fumbling to turn the light off with one hand. He took a few deep breaths before stepping forward out of the alleyway onto the street.

Bodies, blood and guts covered the street in the aftermath of the undead attack. Jaune made sure to step over anything that might give him away to the oblivious undead. Some of the bodies seemed to twitch and he supposed those must have been zombies that had been fended off but not killed entirely.

As much as he wanted to put a bullet in their heads to end them permanently he knew that would just get him and the girl killed. Looking up and surveying the street he reckoned that he wasn't even close to their apartment building.

They made it to the other side of the street and Jaune looked for the closest alleyway before heading into it. He had to fumble with his flashlight again before heading further into its dark depths.

The next few streets were of similar as before. Bodies and carnage as far as Jaune could see in every direction with the dead standing above the living.

Occasionally he would fin Army and Law Enforcement positions overwhelmed and destroyed in the flood of ravenous dead bodies. The few armored units that were sent out looked like islands in the sea of decaying flesh, how the people inside were killed Jaune had no clear idea.

Though he did suspect that many of them did try to flee in their armored personnel carriers or tanks but maybe they had panicked at some point then tried leaving their vehicles. Which Jaune found to be ridiculous as a tank or armored personnel carrier would be valuable in at least escaping the city.

Alas he did not know nor did he have the time to properly shit and think about it. As a fresh wave of small arms fire mixed with the echoing thumps like someone hitting a drum really hard could be heard.

"How are you holding up Sileas?" Jaune asked softly, the young girl had yet to say anything since they had first gotten together.

"Fine." The young girl whispered as Jaune carefully stepped over a pile of trash in an alleyway before coming out of it to see a slightly familiar park. He felt a small wave of elation at seeing it was a clear indicator that he was close to the apartment.

Nearby however he could see a small corner shop, something grumbled near his ear. He looked at the girl but she decided to bury her face into his shoulder, was it embarrassment?

"Why don't we go find someplace to take a break, you okay with that?" He asked and could feel her nodding on his shoulder. He looked to his left and right but didn't see any signs of movement so he took off jogging towards the shop.

The front doors were wide open and Jaune gingerly stepped over a splatter of blood with three empty shotgun shells that lay in front of it.

Inside the shop he could see that more than a few shelves were empty, their contents dumped on the floor or just missing. He set the girl down then gestured her to follow him as he went to go check behind the counter of the store.

The fluorescent lights above them flickered a little but otherwise bathe the room in a pale glow. Nothing was behind the counter so he turned back to the young girl, in the corner of his eye he could see a sign indicating a bathroom. So he kneeled in front of the young girl.

"Is there anything you need to do, like use the bathroom?" He asked and she nodded obviously shy. Jaune was glad that he did stop then as he didn't want to deal with a situation like that on the move.

"Well then, I'll check it out then you can use it, alright? He asked and she nodded. Now that he looked he could see her shifting her weight back and forth on her feet.

Jaune turned towards the bathroom then held his Glock up as he closed in on it. Before opening it he leaned in then pressed his ear against the door then held his breath for a few moments but he didn't hear anything inside.

Though that didn't mean that something wasn't inside, so he knocked on the door. The girl made a small sound of anxiety at that so Jaune smiled at her reassuringly before pressing his ear against the door again but still no sound.

He gripped the handle with his left hand then pulled. The door opened with a squeak, inside was a simple toilet with a sink, mirror and hand dryer.

"Alright little one, you can go in now. I'll stay out here and see if I can't find anything for us to snack on." Jaune said as he holstered his Glock then gestured into the bathroom but the girl shook her head.

"What's the matter? Don't need to go? You shouldn't try holding it in, it's best for you to do your business." Jaune said keeping a patient tone in his voice.

"I'm scared." She said softly and Jaune blinked unsure of what to say at the question.

"There's nothing to be afraid of little one, I checked and there are no monsters in there." The girl shook her head and Jaune contemplated in his head as to what she was thinking.

"Don't go." She whispered again and realization dawned on him.

"Alright I'll stand outside the entire time while you're in there." She looked up at him and Jaune felt a twinge of guilt as at first he saw his little sister Nessa looking at him. Was he only helping this girl out of a sense of guilt at not being there for his own little sister? He banished that thought as Sileas entered the bathroom then closed the door behind her.

"Are you still there?" She called out and Jaune smiled as he leaned against the wall next to the door.

"I'm right here."

"Good!" She said before going quiet, Jaune made sure to hum a little in his head as he stood looking around the small shop. He noted in amusement that the liquor section was almost entirely cleared out. The snacks and other odd items that shops like this collected were scattered on the floor.

He couldn't help but actually wonder a little if the condition of the shop was new or had it been like this since the first day?

Speaking of which Jaune honestly didn't remember what day it was or how long it had been. If he had to guess it couldn't have been more than a week, could it? It wasn't long before the young girl came out of the bathroom.

"Did you wash your hands?" He asked and she nodded her head vigorously.

"Did you use soap?" Jaune asked as he crossed his arms and could see her hesitate at that.

"Come on little one, you gotta keep your hands clean especially now since germs will be everywhere." She nodded reluctantly and Jaune opened the bathroom door again.

"Come on, we can wash our hands together." He said as he led her back in and the two of them washed their hands together. Jaune was able to get a life from the child as he flicked a few droplets of water at her which she gladly did to him as well.

Afterwards he led her back out towards the main room, he gestured towards the selves filled with candy and snacks.

"Have what you want but don't eat too much because we'll be moving soon." Jaune said as he picked up a peanut butter filled chocolate sweet, opening the packet then popped one into his mouth. For some reason it felt like he couldn't actually taste it, he could feel it in his mouth but it was like there wasn't any taste to it.

After a while Jaune could hear helicopters in the distance, he tossed aside the third wrapper of a candy bar, slightly concerned at the lack of taste. Maybe there was something that was wrong with him after the accident, though as far as he was aware it's almost impossible to completely lose a sense of taste.

"Mr. Arc?" Sileas asked and Jaune looked down at her then smiled.

"You don't need to call me that; I said you can call me Jaune Sileas." The girl nodded.

"Are we leaving now?" Jaune nodded as he knelt down and extended his left arm out. Sileas reached out and wrapped her small arms around his neck. Jaune stood up then pulled his Glock out of its, taking a deep breath he walked out of the shop.

The sky was still dark and the horizon had a reddish gold look to it as fires continued to burn unchecked. He could still hear the occasional crackle or pops of gunfire, he had to question at how much of the city was still in human hands.

Shaking his head he turned in the direction of the apartment then jogged across the street towards the park. He could see a few discarded personal items and even a few abandoned cars but there wasn't any sign of people living or dead.

Sileas seemed surprisingly excited in the park; he could see her looking around with a smile. Though he could see that there was something else that lingered on her face, it was knowledge.

She may be young and still naïve to a great deal of things but he could see that when it came to the undead she was aware as anyone else. The way her eyes flicked to behind him with a level of distrust was evidence of that.

"There's someone there." She whispered and Jaune stopped in his tracks. Fear gripped him as he slowly turned around raising his arm to aim his Glock. In the distance he could see a group of people moving slowly towards the park.

The way they moved was unnatural, sluggish and jerky at the same time like a zombie that had yet to be agitated. He narrowed his eyes before turning back around to break into a jog.

"They're coming!" Sileas whimpered as Jaune hopping over a cluster of rocks as he veered off the path. In the distance he could in fact hear the moans and rasping of the undead as they started to move towards them.

"Hold on!" Jaune grunted as he leapt over a park bench, nearly falling over as he cleared it. He turned around to see at least two dozen mutilated bodies running through the park towards them.

He quickly turned back around then continued running. As the sound of the undead grew louder as they got slowly closer he could feel Sileas's grip around his neck tighten a little.

"Sileas you don't have to look right now!" Jaune said loudly as he took deep breathes. He finally reached the other side of the park then headed across the street towards an alleyway but he skidded to a halt. It was a dead end, he turned around, and while he couldn't see the zombies he could still hear them.

To his right however was a wooden door, Jaune stepped in front of it then holstered his Glock before stepping back. With a grunt he stepped forward kicking next to the door handle like he saw in an online video.

What he didn't expect was for the door to come open easily as his foot made contact with it. He stumbled forward through the door and nearly fell on his face but managed to pull back to land on his knees instead.

"Ow." Jaune groaned as he picked himself up, he pushed the door closed with his foot as he drew his Glock then turned around half expecting a zombie to be in front of him but there was nothing as far as he could see in the darkness.

"Are you okay?" Sileas asked and Jaune chuckled.

"I'm fine, just did something that wasn't very smart."

"Huh?"

"Never mind, let's find a way out of here before they come looking for us." Jaune said as he awkwardly switched the flashlight attachment on his Glock on. A small pale light shined at the far end of the hallway illuminating a picture that hanged over a small chair.

Jaune stepped forward, careful of the creaks that the wooden floor emitted whenever he stepped forward. He tried listening for any sounds of movement but aside from his and Sileas breathing he didn't hear anything.

Jaune wasn't sure what kind of building he was in, as he walked down the hallway he could shined his light into a couple of rooms that looked to be offices of sorts. None of them though looked like anyone had been in them for a while, probably since this all started.

It wasn't long till they reached a glass door that appeared to be the front door of the building. Jaune turned off his flashlight. Looking to his left and right he couldn't see anything else so he headed towards the door.

Opening it, the smell of smoke hit his nostrils and he stepped out onto the stone porch. He looked around till he saw a fire in the distance however this fire also lay in the same direction as the apartment.

"No." He whispered before taking off at a run down the street.

* * *

 **Some Time later…**

Jaune rounded the corner of the street where the apartment building was. The scent of smoke and blood filled Jaune's nose. Sileas seemed to whimper as well as she looked to see where they were.

It was a scene of carnage.

Several black SUVs were parked on the street. Two of them however were on fire, while the apartment building, excluding a large amount of pocket marks from gun fire, shattered windows and front door it was almost untouched.

Jaune aimed his Glock towards the black SUVs as he got closer. He could see that a number of them were riddle with bullet holes as well, there were even bodies.

As he got close to a body, it reminded him of the thugs that were under the command of Cinder. He snapped his head up towards the apartment as fear gripped him.

"Pyrrha!" He shouted, startling Sileas as he ran towards the front door. Ascending the steps two at a time he came upon a body.

It was Ciel Soleil.

She was lying dead in front of the door. Her chest had been blown open, revealing a mess of blood, bone fragments and torn flesh. Looking around Jaune could spot several spent shotgun casings which meant that someone had been up close to her when they killed her.

Jaune stepped inside then set Sileas down, the young girl looked frightened as they looked around. The inside of the entryway had been torn up by gunfire. Four members of Cinder's group lay dead on or at the foot of the staircase.

"Pyrrha!" Jaune shouted then started running up the stairs. Sileas called out for him to wait for her but he ignored her as fear took control of him.

"Pyrrha!" He called out again as he reached the second floor. There another three bodies of Cinder's group were sprawled on the floor but so was Karen and Mina.

"Mina!?" He cried out as he ran over to her but she was dead, her eyes open as they stared blankly at the wood floors that were covered in blood and bullet casings. He felt for a pulse but wasn't able to find anything, he didn't need to check Karen as half of her face was missing.

"Ren!? Nora!? Pyrrha!? Anyone!?" Jaune shouted as he went to each door opening them up to see if he could find any of them but there was no one in them. Jaune ran towards the staircase where Sileas was standing frightened but Jaune still paid no heed to her as he ran up the next flight.

Here there were far more bodies, at least a dozen people from of Cinder's group. He also spotted Emerald lying face down in a pool of her own blood, as he walked past he spat on her before going to the far end of the floor.

There a make shift barricade had been built blocking the staircase leading to the final floor. It had been broken apart though, wood chips and fragments were scattered all over the place.

Here however were also the bodies of Qrow, Sun, Ruby, Yang, and Blake. Qrow's throat was a mess of torn fleshing suggesting that he had been hit in the neck.

Sun and Blake were side by side as they held hands. Jaune kneeled down next to them checking for a pulse but there was nothing. He sighed; at least they were with each other in the end.

Yang had Ruby's head in her lap; Yang looked as if she had been shot from behind. If he had to guess the older girl had broken down at the death of Ruby thus allowing for one of Cinder's people to come up and execute her.

Jaune felt nothing but despair as he fell to his knees; his heart felt like it was being squeezed painfully hard. His eyes stung as tears began to whelm up before he looked up at the stairs, there he could see a few more bodies leading up to it.

"Guys?" He called out weakly as he crawled forward before standing up.

"Please answer me, someone? Anyone?" Jaune called out but nothing could be heard upstairs. Taking a shaky breath he walked up the stairs. At the top of the stairs Cinder's people were piled on each other, one of them had silver hair, it was that asshole Mercury.

Looking around he could see two more distinct bodies near to him Ren and Nora none of them stirred as he climbed over the bodies.

He could feel tears streaming down his face as he kneeled next to them began to shake them.

"Guys, please don't do this to me. Please." He whispered before slamming a fist into the crowd screaming in rage and despair. He snapped his head up, there was still a chance, there had to be.

"Pyrrha!" He screamed as he stood up then stumbled towards their apartment. Opening it he could see Weiss and Helena holding onto each other. As he drew close he realized that those smiles were the last things they did before someone shot them in the back of their heads.

Though there was no one in the room, he looked around but couldn't find Pyrrha. Was she safe, was she still alive? Hope flickered to life in his chest as he scrambled back out into the hallway then checked the other rooms but couldn't find anyone else.

"The roof." He whispered then ran towards the roof access; there he found two more bodies of Cinder's group. Each had a neat hole planted in their foreheads.

"Pyrrha!?" He called out as he opened the rooftop door then stepped out there.

What he saw broke his heart.

Cinder was lying on one side of the rooftop; she had a knife sticking out from her left eye. The look on her face spoke of the rage she felt of her death.

What truly had his attention was Pyrrha leaning against the ledge of the roof. In the exact same spot where they had shared that kiss a few nights ago, she gave a shaky smile to him.

"H-Hi Jaune." She said with obvious effort, blood flecked her chin and stained her shirt from what appeared to be a gunshot. Jaune was by her side in seconds, stripping his vest off then tossing it aside before ripping a strip from his shirt to press against the wound. Pyrrha looked up at his eyes, he could see the fear and pain in them.

"I-I-I knew you'd c-come." She said but Jaune shook his head.

"Shush Pyrrha, don't talk you've got to preserve your strength." Pyrrha felt so cold and she was trembling all over.

"I-I-I wanted to take you w-with us but Ren said you can make it on your own." Pyrrha said as she reached out with her right hand and Jaune took it without a second obviously to the blood that covered it.

"I understand Pyrrha its okay, everything will be okay." He whispered.

"I-I h-h-had to put Helena d-down, to spa-spare her." She said blinkingly slowly and Jaune nodded.

"I understand Pyrrha I know she was happy that you showed her that mercy." Jaune said.

"I-I'm tired Jaune, s-so very tired." She said with a smile on her much paler face.

"I'm here Pyrrha, I'm here just don't close your eyes." He said in a hoarse whisper as his voice caught on the fear that bumbled out of him.

"Y-Y-You have wonderful eyes." She said with a strained smile. Jaune could feel the tears brimming at his eyes again before falling.

"D-Don't be sad Jaune, you k-k-kept your promise." She said but Jaune wasn't able to say anything.

"You didn't let me die alone." She said her voice trailing off as she began to close her eyes.

"P-Pyrrha no. Pyrrha wake up please, I can't lose you Pyrrha." He whispered but she didn't respond, tears continued to fall as his emotions spilled over. He pulled Pyrrha's limp body into his lap cradling her cooling face to his as he cried rocking back and forth slowly.

He had lost everything and everyone he ever loved.

Jaune Arc was finally broken.

* * *

 **My oh my, things have taken a turn haven't they?**

 **Anyways this chapter took a while to do as I've been busy studying for Finals and trying to get my shit together to try Transferring lately. Though I may have also gotten distracted working on the outline for The Lost Son but that's a story for another day.**

 **So feel free to leave an honest review of the chapter whether you liked it or not. Hell you can just leave random thoughts as well or PM me if that's what you want.**

 **Or if you really feel inclined to do so, go ahead and suggest this Fanfic to anyone else you know that would be interested in reading.**

 **Now if you excuse me I have another Final to head off too then I have to get drunk to celebrate my birthday today.**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

"You think he's having a wet dream?"

"Why the heck would you think that?"

"Come on Ren, he keeps moaning Pyrrha's name. I bet if you lifted the blanket off him he'd have a stiff one."

"Nora I'm not going to check for that."

"Should I?"

"No."

"You're no fun." Ren and Nora's conversation stopped however when Ren looked down to see Jaune's eyes open.

"I'm not having a wet dream." Jaune said as he looked at his friends, he couldn't help but notice that his right eye wasn't opening all the way plus the right side of his face and body was throbbing in pain. He tried to sit up but Ren put a hand on his left shoulder.

"Jaune you shouldn't be moving, you're still hurt."

"Just, let me sit up man." Jaune said and Ren nodded as Nora disappeared only to return after a few moments with an armful of pillows. Ren set a couple of them behind Jaune and helped him sit up straighter.

Jaune could now get a better look around where he was. It looked like he was back in the apartments but not the original one that they were all sleeping in. He also couldn't help but notice that there was a tube in his right arm that connected to a plastic bag that hung off a hook.

There were also a number of scabs on his arm making it looked like someone took a knife and decided to score his skin a few dozen times.

Looking down he pushed the blanket covering him off, he was stripped down to the waist. What drew his attention first however were the white pads sticking to his chest.

Following the lines that connected them he could see a small EKG machine sitting on the nightstand to his right that beeped rhythmically. He also could see that he had purplish bruises running up the right side of his chest to his armpit.

"An IV? How long have I been out?" Jaune asked looking up at Nora and Ren.

"A little more than a week." Nora said softly and Jaune blinked.

"What?"

"You've been unconscious for eight days now Jaune."

"Well fuck."

"That's our sentiment as well." Nora said as she walked over to stand next to Ren.

"If you're wondering what happened, we had an accident on our way back to Mountain Glenn. Believe it or not a deer actually came out from the woods and it struck the passenger side door and I may have freaked out then flipped the jeep so I guess I didn't help the situation." Ren explained and Jaune supposed that made sense since the right side of his face had been against the window where the deer would have hit. He looked up at Ren and could see some apprehension in his friend.

"It's fine Ren; you did what any of us would have done in that situation." Jaune said as he tried to smile but something painful was being pulled on his cheek.

"I know Jaune! I've been telling Mr. Grumpy pants here that it wasn't his fault but he's almost as stubborn as you are." Nora cried out then gasped.

"We got to tell the others!" She said slapping her face with both hands.

"I guess you can go tell them, I'll stay here with Jaune." Ren said and the orange hair girl scampered out of the room.

"So did anything else happen that I should know?" Jaune asked.

"You mean about our trip back? No, other than our accident everything went fine. We got to the city; the Army took you to a hospital on the east side of town where you stayed for a few days before the hospital finally let us take you home. You actually did wake up a few times but I suppose you were so out of it that you probably wouldn't remember that. Anyways they told us that you weren't in major danger. So we got some medical supplies than hooked you up in here for the last few days." Jaune nodded at that slowly.

"Speaking of which, who did the report for the Army?"

"Pyrrha did, though we had to force her to do it since she was spending almost every minute of the day by your side. Nora and Helena finally forced her to leave then banned her from your room until you woke up."

"What happened with them?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I'm pretty sure we're supposed to get evaluated then awarded on how we did." Jaune explained but Ren shrugged.

"I don't know the details on that; I suppose you'll have to talk to Qrow or Mina on that." Then realization dawned on his face.

"I can say though we did get some new people."

"New people?"

"Yup, Arslan and her three friends asked to join us. We didn't see anything wrong with that so we said yes." Ren explained.

"That's good, with more people we can probably tackle bigger if not more requests at once now." At that moment there was a knock at the door and the two teens looked. There stood most of the group along with both of his sisters who moved by his bedside quickly.

"Thank god you're awake now Jaune." Helena said as she kneeled down next to the bed.

"You really had us worried there little brother." Mina said as she stood over Helena.

"Seriously why do you keep getting hurt?" Helena asked as she sniffed loudly, Jaune reached out with his left hand to pat her head.

"I'm sorry Helena but I'm not trying to get hurt, it just sort of happened. A complete accident that none of us could have seen coming." He said and the younger girl nodded as she wiped her nose with the back of her hand.

"Be that as it may you're not allowed to go on the next mission." Mina said as she sat at the foot of the bed.

"Do we have another mission?" Jaune asked but Mina shook her head.

"You don't need to know."

"I actually think I do need to know since I'm technically the leader."

"Leader smeader Jaune, if I see you out of bed doing something I don't like I'm gonna shoot you in the leg myself that way you can't go anyway."

"But if you shoot my leg wouldn't that defeat the purpose of me not getting hurt?"

"On second thought I might just stab you with a fork instead." A few seconds wouldn't even pass by before Jaune started to laugh softly; Helena and Nora started to laugh as well. Mina's angry face melted way to give rise to a small smile.

"So how are you two?" Jaune asked and Helena snorted.

"He's been unconscious for a week but he asks how we're doing."

"I mean it's because I've been unconscious that I'm asking."

"Well Qrow and I had to take over dealing with the Army while you were bedridden." Mina said as she walked around the bed to sit in a chair on Jaune's right side.

"Aside from worrying about you, I've been fine as well. Weiss and I are going over a bandage and splintering book we found downstairs." Helena chimed in and Jaune nodded.

"That's good; we can never have enough people with knowledge in medicine or treating wounds." At that point Sun, Blake, Weiss and Ruby showed up but surprisingly there was a fifth person with them as well. A lanky orange hair girl that looked more than a little shy.

"Man you look like shit." Sun said loudly as they walked up to the side of the bed which earned him a jab from Blake's elbow.

"I mean, uh, nice to see you haven't kicked the bucket dude." Sun said with a cheeky grin as he held out a fist which Jaune bumped with his own.

"Ah well you know Jaune, he's stubborn to the bone." Weiss said as she folded her arms a serious expression on her face but Jaune could see a twinkle of mirth in her eyes.

"I suppose you do have the most experience with that side of me." Jaune replied, to which she nodded.

"I actually still remember some of those love letters you'd send me." She said as a mischievous smile grew on her face whereas Jaune felt the blood drain from his.

"Oh what's this, my little brother sending love letters? You must tell me about them sometime." Mina said with a predatory smile on her face as well.

"Please don't." He whimpered as Ruby stepped up to him.

"I'm glad you're okay Jaune." She said.

"Yeah, I'm glad as well." Jaune said before nodding to the stranger.

"So who's your friend there?" Ruby looked at her then beckoned her over.

"Oh! This is someone that Weiss's sister entrusted us to watch out for." The orange hair girl held out a pale hand.

"Hello Mr. Arc my name is Penny Polendina, pleasure to meet you." Jaune took it and gave it a firm shake.

"Pleasure to meet you Penny, you can call me Jaune, Mr. Arc was my father." The girl seemed to frown a little at that and Jaune realized he had said that in the past tense. Which he had to be honest felt very odd even if it was true, he cleared his throat.

"Well you'll have to excuse me for not standing up Penny, I'm not exactly in the best shape and besides which I'm pretty sure no one in here is gonna allow me to get out of bed, my sister here already threatened to shoot me if I get out of bed." He said earning a small smile from the girl.

"To be fair, if we did find you out of bed before we allowed you then I'm pretty sure Pyrrha will break a leg or two." Blake said much to the amusement of the room.

"Now what am I supposed to think with all these threats of violence against poor defenseless me?" Jaune said as he pressed a hand to his chest in mock pain.

"Well let's be honest here Jaune, it seems like if we don't hurt you then you'll just do it on your own." Weiss said.

"Bah, I don't know what you mean."

"I guess we should let you rest for now, we'll send someone with your dinner." Mina said as she made her way to the door.

"Oh wait Mina before you leave, can you tell me what the Army said in regards to our mission?" His older sister looked at him.

"I forgot but I can send Qrow to talk to you about that, I'm pretty sure he knows the details." She said before waving goodbye, the others began to file out of the room as well.

"Nora, Ren, can you wait please." Jaune said and the two teens looked at each other before nodding.

"What is it Jaune?" Nora asked.

"I was kind of wondering where's Pyrrha? You said you guys made her do the report but where is she now? I'd figured she'd have gotten that done by now."

"Oh yea she finished it by the end of the first night we gave it to her as for where she is, well I think she's actually exercising but I didn't want to interrupt her to bring her down here." Jaune nodded as he settled back into the pillows.

"Fair enough, I guess I'll see you guys at dinner."

* * *

 **A Few Hours Later…**

There was a knock and Jaune twitched as he opened his eyes. The room was dark save for light coming from underneath the door to the room.

"Come in!" He called out and the door opened before the ceiling light turned on temporarily blinding him.

"Sorry I should have warned you." A familiar voice said, one that made him smile, he looked towards the door to see Pyrrha standing there with a tray in one hand.

"Hey Pyr." He said as he slowly pushed himself up, Pyrrha smiled softly as she walked over to him.

"It's good to see you awake."

"It's good to be awake if anything." Pyrrha smiled as she shook her head softly then moved to his left side.

"I imagine having to sleep for that long then being forced to stay in bed can be bothersome." She noted and Jaune nodded though he couldn't help but remember a few snippets of the nightmare he had before waking up earlier. Pyrrha set the tray on the bed next to him; it was two plates with grilled chicken, asparagus and cubed potatoes.

"Who made this?" Jaune asked as Pyrrha handed him some utensils and a napkin.

"It was that new girl, Penny; apparently she's got a keen interest in cooking so she's volunteered to be the building's head chef as she calls it." Jaune nodded slowly as he stabbed his fork into a potato.

"So I heard you did the after mission report, how did it go?"

"Ah that, well Qrow and I submitted it together."

"Annnnd?" She shrugged.

"It went fine actually, you know how you said that there were points we'd gain for doing missions."

"Yea?"

"Well, we had eleven hundred points."

"Had?" She nodded.

"Well we immediately had to procure some medical supplies for you along with the initial service by the hospital. Which cost three hundred points, then we had to buy a new car since the jeep was wrecked, we ended up settling for a Toyota Hilux for another two hundred points. Then another hundred points on fuel alone, and then two hundred points on ammunition." Pyrrha started to count off with her fingers.

"We got three hundred nine millimeter rounds for twenty five points, a hundred twelve gauge shells for another twenty five points, seventy five rounds of three oh eights for fifty points then for the last hundred points we got two hundred five point five six millimeter rounds." Jaune nodded a little.

"That doesn't seem too bad of a deal."

"You say that but between you and Ren you two ended up firing nearly three hundred rounds."

"Ah, never mind."

"I thought so, anyways, we then spent 75 points on food and twenty five points on clothes." Jaune frowned at that.

"Only twenty five points?"

"Well to be fair, each article of clothes is worth one point so we figured we'd only buy a few things for now. Besides which we already did find some clothes amongst the apartments so that's fine with the rest of us." Pyrrha explained.

"Well then that leaves us with what, two hundred points? Surely you guys could have gotten a little bit more." She shrugged.

"It didn't seem like we need to besides which we've got another mission tomorrow Qrow, Sun, Yang, Arslan and I are all going." Jaune frowned a little but Pyrrha noticed anyways.

"Ah don't make that face Jaune, your sister told me you were worried but it's really just a simple survey mission."

"Yea but that's sort of what they told us about our mission as well."

"True but they've reclassified the missions; we were on a Search and Destroy mission, while this mission is purely observation."

"Did they say what other types of missions they'd give us?"

"Well there's Hunter Missions in which we either go after some zombies or rogue groups of people. Then there's Capture and Secure Missions where they have us find a place then stay there until told otherwise."

"I'm not gonna lie but that kind of sounds like really shitty time."

"That's what Qrow essentially said as well." Pyrrha nodded towards his arm.

"Why do you still have the IV in?" Jaune shrugged.

"Here I'll take it out." Pyrrha said as she stood up then left the room before returning shortly with gloves and bandages. She walked up to his right side and sat down on the bed before pulling on the gloves.

"Hold your arm out please." She said and he did so. He watched as Pyrrha systematically gripped his skin with her left hand before pulling off the surgical tape then slowly began to gently pull the catheter adapter out from his arm.

Once it was out of his arm she immediately held a small cotton ball to the area where the catheter adapter was for a few seconds. Jaune could see her lips move slightly as she counted to herself before taking the cotton off then applying a clean dressing to his arm.

"All done." She said as she exhaled then looked up and smiled at him.

"When did you learn to do that?" He asked as Pyrrha put the medical supplies away.

"I've kind of always known that."

"Really?"

"Yup, my parents are doctors and they used to leave some of their medical books around the house so I would read them in my spare time."

"Well, that's something." Jaune said and Pyrrha laughed softly.

"I guess it does sound kind of pathetic, a girl who spends her free time reading medical books."

"I didn't think that, I was thinking that it's an awfully clear testament at the fortitude it took to actually read and learn something from medical books of your own volition. I know I wouldn't be able to do that." Pyrrha smiled as she patted his hand.

"Thank you Jaune." He smiled back.

"There's no need to thank me Pyr." They sat there for a few moments and Jaune locked his hand with her. Pyrrha looked down at their hands then up at him. Her hand felt unsurprisingly cool as always, a stark contrast to his rather warm hands.

"Oh, hey Pyrrha, you think you can get a mirror?" She tilted her head a little confused at the request and Jaune gestured to his face with his other hand.

"I'm kind of curious to see how my face looks at the moment; it feels a little odd on my right side so I figure it's something noticeable." Pyrrha nodded and reluctantly let go of his hand as she always enjoyed the warmth of his skin on hers. She stood up and looked around but couldn't see anything so she headed towards a door on the far wall.

She opened it and could see that it was a small bathroom. She reached in and felt around for a switch. Her hand brushed against something and she pressed it.

There was a slight droning sound as the bathroom lights and fan turned on. It was a relatively small bathroom with only a toilet and sink with a mirror above it.

Walking over to the sink she pulled on the bottom and it came away from the wall. Inside was a few small selves, she however found a small mirror in it. She found a little weird to have since there was already a mirror to look into.

Shrugging she walked back into the bedroom and walked up to Jaune handing him the small mirror as she sat down again.

Jaune wasn't sure exactly what he expected to find but he could see the purplish yellow bruises on his forehead and cheek. He was a little startled at how red his right eye was; it looked like there wasn't even a trace of white left in it. Lastly were the white bandages on the bridge of his nose, above his right temple and cheek.

"Wow, I look like shit."

"It's not that bad, you should have seen it a few days in." Pyrrha said with a smirk.

"Ya I think I'm fine with not knowing." He pulled down the blanket to see the purplish yellow bruises on his torso then began to compare his face with it.

"Actually never mind, the bruises don't look that bad in comparison to the chest. Though my eye really does look fucked up."

"That's just a Subconjunctival hemorrhage, it should go away soon."

"Subconjecting what?" Jaune asked and Pyrrha sighed.

"It's just some bleeding, nothing to worry about."

"Ya know when people saying bleeding that normally seems like something you should worry about." Jaune said but she shrugged.

"What else can I say? I'm not a medical professional all I know is that it's not dangerous." She seemed to think for a second.

"Well, I don't think it's dangerous."

"Charming."

"You can call me Princess Charming."

"My oh my, are you going to rescue me from the dreadful dragon that's keeping me captive?"

"Who's the dragon?"

"Mina."

"Ya know I think she would find that to be a compliment."

"Funnily enough I think immense destructive power seems like something she'd enjoy at the expense of being an overgrown lizard." Jaune said dryly and Pyrrha laughed as she took Jaune's hand into hers again.

The two of them sat there for a little while before Jaune started to scoot to his left a bit, setting the tray with food onto the floor next to the bed. Pyrrha was about to protest about him leaving his bed so soon but she was surprised when Jaune pulled off the cover then patted the spot next to him.

"If I'm gonna be stuck in bed might as well have someone else suffer with me." Pyrrha giggled a little as she climbed in with him. As she pulled the bedcover over her legs she realized something, Jaune was pretty much half naked.

That realization gave rise to a number of ideas that started bouncing around rather passionately in her head. Pyrrha squeaked when Jaune shifted closer to her, she could feel the warmth of his bare skin next to her; she turned her head to see Jaune watching her.

"Is this making you uncomfortable? If it is you can go or I can shift away." Pyrrha shook her head.

"No it's fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Jaune."

"Yes?"

"Be quiet."

"Yes ma'am." The two teens looked at each other not saying against. Even with the bruised face, Pyrrha could honestly say that she wouldn't mind being able to stay like this with Jaune.

Jaune started to lean closer, his face inches from her. Pyrrha started to lean in as well, his warm breath sending a tingly sensation down her skin.

There was an unfamiliar but strangely welcoming warmth in her that seemed to urge her to continue getting closer to him, their faces was barely an inch from each other.

"You know I was scared when I saw you after the jeep flipped. You were unconscious with blood covering your face and clothes. It was strange to think that everything that despite everything that happened, it would be a simple car accident that would kill you." She whispered as she locked eyes with him.

"To be honest now that I'm awake I'm still struggling to wrap my head around what happened. I didn't even see it coming and had it really killed me then I wouldn't have even known about it. If there is an afterlife I would wager that I would become a ghost or something."

"A ghost?"

"Yea I read somewhere that sometimes a ghost comes into existence when it's trying to figure something out like how it died."

"Where did you read that?"

"The internet."

"The internet is a weird place."

"I mean what is can you expect from it?"

"Something normal I guess."

"I mean there are plenty of places where normal people visit but there are just a lot weirder places to go."

"Like porn sites?"

"Why would you instantly suggest that?"

"Well Nora said that you had a wet dream about me."

"Even if that was true why would you connect that with me?"

"Well to be fair why wouldn't I connect the two?"

"Fair enough."

"So did you really have a wet dream about me?"

"No."

"Really?"

"Why do you sound surprised?"

"Well maybe I was just curious."

"That's an odd thing to be curious about."

"I don't think so."

"Well just because you think it's not weird doesn't make it not weird."

"I'm pretty sure me thinking that it's not weird means it's not weird."

"But that wouldn't make me think it's not weird."

"Do you think it's weird?"

"No."

"Then why are you arguing against me?"

"I thought it would be fun."

"Now that's weird."

"Probably."

"So you really didn't have a wet dream about me?"

"If I say yes will you drop it?"

"Nope."

"Well then no, I didn't have a wet dream but I'm curious on why you're so interested." Jaune said and he could see Pyrrha flush a little at that.

"Are you suggesting that I like the thought of you having a wet dream about me?"

"Uh, no, I was just wondering why you're so curious about whether or not I had one."

"Oh." Jaune chuckled then kissed Pyrrha's nose, the red head rubbed her nose softly in surprise.

"Sorry." Jaune said sheepishly but before he could say anything else Pyrrha kissed his lips quickly. The two of them stared at each other for a few moments before Pyrrha leaned back in then began to kiss him again.

It felt a little odd as the right side of his face tingled at the soft pressure from her face against his. Alas Jaune didn't care as he reached up with his left hand, cupping her cheek rubbing his thumb back and forth softly on it.

It wasn't long before Pyrrha gently pushed him to lie flat on the bed. She pushed down the covers and Jaune felt the cool air touch his exposed chest. He couldn't help but flinch a little at the sight of his bruised torso but Pyrrha smiled as she sat up in the bed.

"I know what you're thinking but I think you look fine even with the bruises; I guess you can say they add a certain level of ruggedness." She said and Jaune looked down at his body. While he hadn't worked out in more than a few weeks he was still in a relatively fit state though he could tell he must have lost some weight.

Even with the high calorie meals like the MREs or freeze dried food, he supposed running around in an almost constant state of life or death must burn a lot of calories.

He became distracted however as Pyrrha began to run her hand up and down his chest softly. She was careful not to brush his bruised side to hard but honestly he probably wouldn't care. She leaned forward and kissed him before leaning back.

Jaune could see the look of adoration in her eyes and for some reason he couldn't help but remember the nightmare. The look she had given him in there as she died in front of him scared him in how real it felt, so real Jaune wasn't sure if he wasn't in fact dreaming right now instead.

What Pyrrha began to do next was terrifying.

She reached down and grabbed the hem of her shirt then began to pull it up but as soon as he could see the bare skin of her stomach he reached out to grab her arm.

Pyrrha frowned at Jaune stopping her then she realized that Jaune looked like he was about to have a panic attack. He was breathing heavily and looked a lot paler than a few minutes earlier that it made the bruises look darker than they should be.

"Are you okay Jaune?"

"Just, please, you don't have to do that."

"Is everything alright?"

"I'm fine, can, we just lay here?" Jaune said softly and Pyrrha tilted her head a little but nodded. She let go of her shirt almost feeling reluctant then laid down carefully next to Jaune, resting her head next to his.

"I'm sorry." She whispered thinking that she had pushed too fast for him but Jaune shook his head slightly then looked at her.

"It's not you, it's me." He took a deep breath.

"I had a nightmare." Pyrrha cocked an eyebrow at that.

"It wasn't because I was having a wet dream with you in it that made me call out your name." It clicked in Pyrrha's head at what he was saying but she didn't say anything to interrupt him.

He began to give a detailed account of his nightmare, being abandoned in the jeep then making his way to Mountain Glenn to see it burning. Then finally coming across the legions of undead slaughtering the denizens of the city before finally reaching the apartment building where he found them dead or in her case dying.

Pyrrha was honestly not sure what she should say or do so she just took Jaune's hand in her own. He looked towards her and she could see the tears in his eyes.

"I know it's crazy of me to be upset from it but it felt so real."

"Jaune it's alright, nothing like that is going to happen."

"I know, I know but there isn't really any guarantee that it won't happen. What if the Army deserts or a zombie gets in and starts biting people without anyone noticing till it's too late? What if a new disease appears due to the appearance of the undead? There are so many variables that can get us killed that scares me."

"True but this isn't your dream things won't just spiral completely out of control, we can and will work together to keep each other safe." Jaune smiled and Pyrrha kissed him lightly again.

"I guess I should go now and let you rest since you're not fully healed yet." She said as she made to get out of bed but Jaune grabbed her hand again.

"Please stay." He said softly and Pyrrha smiled hoping he'd say that.

* * *

 **A Few Days Later…**

Jaune limped down the steps to the main floor, while most of his bruises were healed completely he still felt incredible sore.

In front of him Qrow, Pyrrha, Yang, Arslan and Sun were double checking their equipment. They had another mission this time a mission down the mountain in one of the towns where they had to observe the zombies there.

There had been reports by a few survivors that had made their way to the Mountain Glenn that a horde of undead was collecting in the town.

The Army had been able to do a brief aerial scan with one of their helicopters confirming that there was indeed a rather large amount of undead in the town. However what they wanted to know was whether or not the undead were in fact moving up the mountain and inevitably towards Mountain Glenn.

As even with their best effort, there were still miles of the city perimeter that was only protected by chain-link fence. If the zombies were heading towards Mountain Glenn then they would want to have the forewarning to prepare for it.

Qrow and Sun now carried the two Model 3 Stag rifles. Yang and Arslan both carried shotguns. Arslan had her shotgun that they had found her with the first time while Yang still had the Shockwave.

Lastly Pyrrha had her Model 10 rifle slung over her shoulder, Jaune walked up to her as she double checked the straps to her vest.

"Here let me check for you." He tugged slightly making sure nothing was too loose or tight then patted her arm.

"You're good." She smiled.

"Thanks." He smiled back before the two of them turned towards Qrow who was given the role of being in charge for the mission.

"Alright, this will probably take about a day or two at the very least before we're done since we got to establish a pattern of movement. So I've taken the opportunity of packing bags filled with two MREs each, two water bottles, a blanket, a flashlight, and one walkie talkie. Arslan and I however will also be carrying medical kits in case anyone gets hurt. Though I would rather not have to deal with that so please remember to be careful once we're out there, alright?" Qrow said as he handed out backpacks to everyone.

"Alright, is everyone set?" He asked and the group nodded. Jaune watched the five of them walk out of the front door.

"You think they'll be gone for long?" Ruby's voice came from behind him and he looked over his shoulder at her.

"Maybe it sounds like it'll be a tough mission, sure they shouldn't run into any big trouble but that doesn't mean complications can't arise out of it." He replied to which Ruby sighed loudly.

"You know Jaune, I wish you would have just lied and said no." He turned around and patted her head.

"I can't do that Ruby, it's better to have a practical outlook on things like this."

"Ugh, you're no fun."

"That's my job as an older brother; it merely transferred over to you as well." Ruby laughed a little.

"So you're feeling better?"

"I suppose I am feeling better but I doubt I would be in the best shape to have gone on the mission with Qrow today." Jaune said as he eased himself down on the stairs to sit down.

"Would you have gone in Pyrrha's place if you could?"

"Yes and no, while I would take her place if it seemed like it was necessary but I also can't just force someone off rotation. Especially if they volunteered for it, Arslan on the other hand I might have taken over for since I don't know how well she reacts under pressure but I would still encounter the same issue with her as I would with Pyrrha."

"So you're saying that you wouldn't treat Pyrrha any different than the others?" Ruby asked and Jaune titled his head a little at that.

"What are you suggesting?" Ruby shrugged as she looked sheepishly at the floor and it clicked in Jaune's head.

"Ah, no, I wouldn't treat her any differently in those kinds of situations as it's my duty to make sure everyone gets back alive. I would lay down my life for Sun, Yang, Qrow, Blake, my sisters, Weiss, Ren, Nora, you and Pyrrha. In fact I would do my best for anyone's sake in our group." Ruby nodded as she sat down next to him then flashed a knowing smile.

"So how are you and Pyrrha?" Jaune wrinkled his nose at that.

"Not sure how that's any of your business."

"I wouldn't say that brother." Helena's voice appeared from behind him and he sighed.

"I'm pretty sure it's definitely not your business."

"If you don't tell us now we're just gonna have to convince Mina to pressure you into telling everyone then." Helena replied evenly.

"I hate you."

"Nah, I'm adorable."

"Fine, I'll throw you two a bone, we both like each other a lot and we know that we both like each other a lot. Hell we've even slept in the same bed when I woke up." Ruby and Helena were practically on him in an instant. Jaune did take notice that Ruby looked excited while Helena seemed a little more furious at him.

"What did you do!?" Helena shouted but Jaune held up his hands to ward them off.

"I didn't do anything like that, we just laid there together talking then we both went to sleep." He explained.

"That's kind of disappointing." A third voice spoke up from behind him, Jaune turned to see Blake and Karen standing at the doorway.

"I'm not sure how that's disappointing." Karen laughed as she walked past them towards the front door.

"You'll find out one day Jaune." She said before leaving but Blake walked up to the stairs.

"Did you really not do anything?" Jaune simply rested his chin on his hand.

"Yup."

"And you're cool with that?" Jaune shrugged.

"I'm cool at whatever pace Pyrrha wants."

"But what if she's only being cool with what she thinks you want even if it's not what she wants?" Blake asked and Jaune tilted his head a little in confusion.

"So, wait, you're saying that Pyrrha might be in fact be matching with my pace because she thinks that's what I want when she might want to go further or faster?" Blake shrugged before walking up the stairs between him and Ruby.

"I guess its food for thought."

"What does that even mean?" He asked but Blake just kept on walking up the stairs, he looked at Ruby but the younger girl just shrugged.

"Well I'm gonna go bug Weiss, I'll see you two later." Ruby said as she stood up then walked up the stairs leaving Helena and him alone though neither of them said anything at first.

"Ya know it almost doesn't feel like the end of the world." Helena was the first to speak up and Jaune looked at her.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean we're just sitting here doing nothing, I would have thought that we'd be spending every second of our time trying to stay alive." Jaune shrugged at that.

"It's not just the fight that keeps us alive it's what we do in-between that lets us live."

"What does that even mean?"

"I don't know it sounded like a cool thing to say." Jaune said with a smile and Helena just snorted.

"Okay, okay, fine, I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's not just about fighting that we have to worry about but living in this new world. You can fret and worry all you want but if that's all you do then you're not living you're just surviving and to me there's a difference but that's all subjective." Jaune said as he stood up.

"Then what should we do?" Helena asked but Jaune shrugged again as he patted her head.

"We do what we have to, nothing more and nothing less."

* * *

 **A Few Hours Later…**

Pyrrha sat in the passenger seat of the Toyota Hilux; Qrow was in the driver seat while Sun, Yang and Arslan were in the back.

They had been on the road for a while now that she expected that they'll be at their destination soon. She fiddled with the Vortex Viper telescopic on the Stag 10 which Ruby had taken from one of their M40 rifles.

"So what was this place called again?" Sun asked.

"Lakeside, it's at the foot of the Mountain Glenn Range. If I recall correctly it's got a population around eighty thousand but it's pretty spread out so that might be in our favor in preventing them from congregating too much." Qrow said.

"But isn't that actually a bad thing if they're too spread out? How are we gonna get accurate information if we can't see the whole picture?" Arslan pointed out.

"True but I think the Army really just wants to know if it's a coincidence that the undead are moving in a direction together or if they're working on a similar mindset."

"Similar mindset?" Sun echoed.

"I think he means they want to know if the zombies are turning into a pack or horde." Pyrrha explained.

"Wouldn't that mean that they are intelligent?" Yang asked but Pyrrha shrugged.

"I wouldn't say that, wolves work in packs but I think that's an instinctual trait not necessarily an intelligent one." Pyrrha continued then shrugged slightly.

"Actually I don't really know myself."

"Still smarter than me." Sun said with a heavy sighed.

"Same." Yang said as she began to laugh.

"So has the Army given you any news on what's going on in the outside world?" Arslan asked instead changing the subject.

"Like what?" Qrow replied.

"I mean, is the Army making progress anywhere? Has Atlas finally come to lend its support in cleansing our country? What about Mistral or Vacuo?" Qrow simply shrugged.

"I doubt Vacuo is going to be any help, Mistral doesn't seem like it's doing that great as well but I don't think people like us will ever know that since information is scarce. As for Atlas, I also have no clue what's going on there."

"Well that sucks, I was hoping for things to start going back to normal by the end of winter but it's starting to look like that's not the case." Sun said.

"I'm not sure why you thought it would be simple, it's a zombie apocalypse. Vacuo is essentially zombie territory and Vale's falling apart as we speak. Then we don't know if the zombies will decay at the same rate or by the very fact that they're moving means they decompose slower." Qrow pointed out and everyone sat silently. Pyrrha thought she remembered Jaune or maybe Weiss mentioning their worries about the decomposition rate of the undead as well.

She sighed as she looked out the window; they were descending down the mountains now so it wouldn't be long till they reached the town. After a few minutes Pyrrha realized that they didn't have a plan of action or if they did then she'd had just forgotten.

"Uh, Qrow?" She asked and the older man grunted in response.

"What's the plan?"

"Plan?"

"Yea, we're on an observation mission and I know the goal is just observe but how are we gonna do that? Split off into smaller teams or stick together then find a spot to post up in to watch for movement?"

"Hmm, you make an interesting point. Anyone here have an idea they want to share?" Qrow asked.

"I figured we'd just stick together since splitting up in a heavily infested area seems like a bad idea." Yang replied.

"I mean really all we have to do is just find a really big building to watch out from and besides that Pyrrha's rifle has a scope so we can watch them from a distance. There's nothing really to it." Sun pointed out.

"Well that sounds like a plan to me, everyone good with it?" Qrow asked and the four teens gave their acknowledgments.

* * *

 **Half an Hour Later…**

Qrow eased the pickup truck to a halt; in the distance he could see the outskirts of the town. The town really did earn its name as Lakeside as it wrapped around a large lake that probably would take forty maybe fifty minutes just to circle it.

"Doesn't look so bad." Pyrrha noted from next to him but he wasn't sure. He could actually see some damaged buildings close to them most of it however seemed to be fire damage so it wasn't clear if it was on purpose or not.

"Shit, ten o'clock." Sun hissed and Qrow turned to see a few dozen figures in the distance. It seems just far enough that they didn't notice the noise of their truck.

"Alright, I'm gonna reverse then find somewhere to park. From there we'll be walking." Qrow backed the pickup down the road making sure to keep an eye on the group of zombies in the distance. After a few minutes he finally turned the pickup onto the shoulder of the road.

The five occupants got out and Qrow immediately set off amongst the trees to look for an open spot. Finding one he quickly returned to the pickup and got in it but gestured for the others to stay put.

Pyrrha watched as Qrow drove the pickup amongst the trees then began to take random branches then pile it onto the truck. She turned towards the town and moved forward in a slight crouch before raising her rifle to her shoulder.

Looking through the scope on top she could see that the zombies hadn't moved in their direction since they arrived. If anything they just seemed to be standing around and doing nothing.

"See anything?" Arslan's voice came from her left and Pyrrha shook her left hand in an unsure gesture.

"The zombies didn't notice us but it also looks like they aren't moving at all, just standing around." Pyrrha said before handing over her rifle to the dark skinned girl who lifted the rifle up to her face.

"See them?" Pyrrha asked as she gently guided the rifle to look in the direction of the zombies they had seen.

"Yea and it looks like you're right but who knows what the larger groups might be like." Arslan said as she handed the rifle back to Pyrrha.

"Everyone ready to move?" Qrow's voice came from behind them, Pyrrha and Arslan turned towards him. Pyrrha flashed him a thumbs up and the older man nodded.

"Alright then, I'll take the lead then its Yang, Arslan, Sun and Pyrrha you'll bring up the rear. Keep ten feet apart, that way we can avoid any friendly fire if someone starts shooting. If you see anything then go and tap whoever is in front of you then have them relay it up towards me. Do not use the walkie talkies unless it's very important." Qrow made sure to meet the eyes of each of them then nodded before unclipping the Stag 3 from his vest then in a low crouch jogged towards the town.

Pyrrha waited till Sun was about ten feet from her before she moved to follow the others. She wouldn't be lying if she said she wasn't nervous.

The more she thought about it the more it seemed completely crazy that they were doing this mission. Of course she knew that if none of them did the missions that the Army was giving them then they would get their status as Auxiliaries removed.

With that gone they would be kicked out of the apartment along with not being given any food or supplies for free. They would be another group amongst the thousands struggling to survive in Mountain Glenn.

She shook her head, now wasn't the time to think of that as their pace slowed down. Pyrrha could see Qrow pointing in the direction of the zombies they had seen.

Pyrrha lifted her rifle up and after a few second found them through the scope. They were moving now; they weren't heading towards them or the town but towards the tree line.

She realized that this was the sort of evidence that had the Army in Mountain Glenn was worried about. If the majority of the undead population is in fact moving towards places where the living are it would mean that Mountain Glenn would sooner or later be in trouble.

Qrow didn't stop the group however as he continued pushing forward into the town. Pyrrha could see abandoned cars lining both sides of the road with buildings and shops with no signs of life in them as well.

There were a few that had their doors opens, as Pyrrha passed by a grey sedan she could see dried blood in the shapes of hands on it.

Ahead of her Sun stopped then crouched low, the others had done so as well. Pyrrha shifted a little to the left then raised her rifle. She could see Qrow watching a small intersection, looking past him she could see a few zombies that crossing away from them but there were still at least a dozen other zombies that just stood around.

Qrow turned around then pointed to his left before beckoning the rest towards him. Pyrrha quickly moved towards him in a low crouch till she was less than a few feet from him.

"Alright, we'll cut through this alleyway. If the street on the other side is clear then we'll continue further into town, if not we'll either cut across another alleyway or return here. Pyrrha if we have to double back that means you'll be on point, keep an eye out for anything that so much as twitches at you." Qrow instructed in a low voice and she simply nodded.

"Move." Pyrrha waited for a few seconds after the others started to move before following Sun. Glancing to the side she could still see the zombies shambling in the intersection oblivious to their movement.

The smell of something rotting hit Pyrrha's nostrils the moment she entered the alleyway. As she followed she could see Sun step over something and she realized what she had smelled.

There was a pile of bodies in the alleyway, judging from the manner that they lay on the ground she guessed that it was a last stand of sorts. Three bodies were scattered close to her, sections of their bodies were mauled revealing the dried up bloody flesh and bone underneath.

However she could spot the holes where she assumed bullets hit them. Past them was another body, one that was slumped against the wall.

As they made their way past the bodies Pyrrha was able to get a better look of the body slumped against the wall. It was a woman, who was mostly intact save for her forehead and stomach. Pyrrha had to swallow hard to prevent herself from vomiting at the smell.

She guessed that the woman had been shot in the forehead before getting her stomach ripped open as she still had smile on her face. Which to Pyrrha meant that she had someone kill her before the zombies could get to her.

Pyrrha shook her head at the sight as she continued following the others as they pushed forward through the alley. Ahead of her Qrow stood up then leaned out of the alleyway, looking towards his left and right then gestured for them to follow.

They came out onto the street; this street showed more signs of violence. Most of the building fronts had broken windows, smashed up abandoned cars, and the occasional pocket mark from a gun. Of course there were also a few bodies, most likely of zombies that were killed in the panic.

Qrow stopped then waved for everyone towards him as he dropped into a crouch behind a car that had all its windows broken. Several holes stitched across the left side of the car and Pyrrha could see signs of dried blood on it as she got closer.

"Alright I think I found a place where we can stay at for now." He whispered before pointing to a large building in the distance. Pyrrha stood up slightly to see over the car, he was pointing at a church that stood at the top of a small hill.

She could see the most notable aspect which was the tower attached to the roof, which would probably give them a clear view of the area.

"Are you sure we should go there?" Yang asked but Qrow made a cutting gesture that silenced her much to the blonde girl's annoyance.

"Let's go." The four teens exchanged looks before following Qrow towards the church. At the first intersection they crossed, Pyrrha turned in the direction that the first intersection they saw was supposed to be.

She could see the zombies growing in numbers at the intersection; they seemed to be shambling in their current direction. Pushing on they could hear the hoarse groaning of the undead growing.

Which Pyrrha found a little odd since they were supposed to be dead, which if that is the case then their normal bodily functions shouldn't allow them to make that sort of sound.

Then again, she supposed it's a futile endeavor in trying to understand the bodily functions of a person with their entrails hanging out and half of their skin missing that was running on legs that had their tendons ripped off.

As they climbed up the hill, Pyrrha took the time to turn around and look over the town. She could see that it was in fact not a very large or small town. Thought most of it was in fact just surrounding the lake, while it was big; it was still just a lake. So maybe it was her perspective that limited her ability to accurately judge its size.

Then again she did remember that Mistral practically had an ocean size lake smack right in the middle of it. Though the more she thought about it the more she realized that she didn't actually remember if it really was counted as a lake.

As they reached the building's parking lot, Pyrrha was surprised that there weren't a lot of cars, if anything there was only three cars. She had expected that a place like this would have a lot of people coming to it during the apocalypse.

Inspecting the building Pyrrha could see that it was a pretty big building, at least twice the size of their apartment building. The five of them moved up towards the front door, two bronze crucifixes were fixed on the doors as Qrow reached out for the handle then pulled a door open.

Inside he could see any movement so he slowly moved in. There were candles alight at the far end near the pulpit but there weren't any signs of people living or otherwise. Behind the pulpit was a large wooden crucifix.

"I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." A voice spoke up and Qrow snapped around pointing his rifle at an older man in a priest's outfit that had a double barrel shotgun pointed at the side of Yang's head. Qrow clipped his rifle then let go of it, letting it dangle by his side as he raised his hands.

"Look, we don't mean you any harm. We thought the church would be abandoned so we came here to use it as a temporary base." Qrow gestured towards Yang and himself.

"This is my niece, we're actually sent by the Vale Government to check out how the undead in Lakeside." The Priest seemed to relax his stance at that as he scrutinized Qrow a little longer before taking the shotgun away from Yang's skull.

"Thank you." Qrow started to say but the Priest simply walked past him, ignoring Qrow, as he made his way over to the large Crucifix hanging on the far wall. Qrow turned back around to Yang who had gone down to her knees breathing rapidly.

"You okay kiddo?" Qrow asked as he moved to her side.

"Just, let me have a moment Uncle Qrow." He nodded before gesturing the others to come in. Pyrrha closed the door softly behind them.

"You think we should stay here?" Arslan asked and Qrow shrugged.

"Maybe not but I don't think he means any harm to us."

"Well I think he's a fucking asshole." Yang whispered angrily.

"Can you blame him? Five people armed with guns come to his place then walk in unannounced." Sun pointed out.

"I'm pretty sure we would have shot him without question had the situation been reversed." Pyrrha noted and Arslan looked at her.

"That seems pretty messed up." Pyrrha shrugged.

"Honestly I wouldn't want to risk it." Qrow sighed as he stood up then rested his hands on his hips.

"Alright then I guess we'll stay here for a while unless he kicks us out. For now Pyrrha, Sun see if you can go upstairs and maybe find a way into the tower. Arslan, Yang I want the two of you to double check the area and make sure it's defensible. Make note of any paths in that aren't properly defended or completely vulnerable." The four teens scattered to do their respective tasks. Qrow however turned towards the old priest who knelt in front of the crucifix, as Qrow approached him he could hear the old man talking to himself.

"O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?" The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our faith in Him." Qrow frowned as he just stood behind the man as he continued to talk to himself. After a while the man finally spoke to him.

"Tell me again, my wayward son, what brings you to this house of God?"

"Like I said, we're here on behalf of the Vale Government to observe the undead that have gathered in your town."

"Ah, the Secularists have sent me some mercenaries?"

"No sir, I'm actually a police officer from the capital. I'm just lending what help I can."

"Help? No singular man or woman can help us now officer, faith alone was what could have saved us but the people have forsaken Him. Thus now irony afflicts us as He has lost faith in us. With that, the gates of Hell have opened and the Sins of our past have come to embrace us."

"Be that as it may not all of us are terrible people, I've lost friends who I know where good people."

"If they were truly good then rejoice for they now reside in the Kingdom of Light. Alas if they were not as good as you think than know that they will wallow down here with us as well. For this is no longer the Land of the Living but the realm of the Damned."

"What does that mean for you then, aren't you a man of the cloth?"

"Aye, that I am but I was not always. In my youth I did terrible thing, things that haunt me even now. For those crimes I must pay by staying amongst those that are damned or confined to live a restless life in this cold perpetuity."

"Okay then." The old man looked at him and Qrow could see a pair of scars on his chin going across his lips. He had piercing green eyes that seemed to glow slightly; his gaze however was unwavering, almost as if he was sizing Qrow up.

"You must think I'm crazy." He said and Qrow shrugged.

"Even if I did think that I wouldn't pay much heed to it, as an officer of the law, I can say for certain that we're all a little crazy."

"True but you only see the people on the outside after they've let go of their restraint. As a man of the cloth I see them as they grow or fall, I see the spark of hope in the youth and the jagged edge of despair in the old."

"You really like talking like that, don't you?" Qrow asked and the old man smiled.

"Aye, it's fun." Qrow chuckled as he saw down on a nearby bench.

"So tell me old man, how have you survived for this long alone?"

"Hm? I guess could say it's the will of God but I know that won't satisfy you. No instead, I simply did what I thought was right. The church windows have heavy shutters which can keep the dead out as long as not to many come, the same for the front door. So all I had to do was shut them close, though I tend to open the shutters up during the day as it wouldn't do it justice to block the sun out all the time. As for other entrances I pushed something to keep them from opening or took the boards from the fence around the cemetery then boarded up the doors. I also have a lot of leftover food from the last Church fundraiser as for protection I've got my double barrel and a Cooper Model 21 which I use whenever I'm up in the bell tower, which was also how I knew you five were coming." The old man explained as he slowly got to his feet then turned to sit down next to Qrow.

"Huh, did you have any trouble?" Qrow asked and the old man nodded solemnly.

"The cars out front don't belong to me, never did like driving those things, God gave me legs thus I prefer to use them." Qrow chuckled at that.

"I buried them out in the cemetery, I don't have a tombstone for them but I figured I'd just borrow a few things from the Church to mark their graves." The old man said in a quiet, regretful voice.

"How many?" Qrow asked softly.

"Six, four of them a family, the other two were just strangers that sought shelter." Qrow nodded.

"When was this?"

"About two days into when this all happened." Qrow raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"And there hasn't been anyone else?" The old man shook his head.

"No, I reckon those that were still alive either had already left or weren't going to be alive for long."

"So you've been here, alone, this entire time?"

"Now I know you're not suggesting I'm crazy or something." The man said as he narrowed his eyes at Qrow to which he responded by holding up his hands.

"Hey, if anyone can live alone out here for that long, they have my respect." The two sat silently for a second before Qrow decided to speak again.

"When we do leave Father, would you like to come with us?" The old man shook his head.

"Can't."

"Why not?"

"Someone has to stay and watch over the Lord's House if I'm not here then I doubt anyone else will."

"I'm sure the Lord has the ability to clean his own house from time to time." Qrow said and the old man chuckled.

"You don't get it do you? That's fine I wouldn't expect a young man such as yourself to understand though one day I hope you will."

"I'm not that young."

"To those kids you haul with you sure you're old but to me you're as young as them as they are to you." Qrow sighed.

"Fair enough." Then he looked at the old man who met his gaze as well.

"So then Father, let me ask you this as a formal question. Can we stay and use your church as an observation base for our mission?" The old man smiled.

"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

* * *

 **Another Lemon Scene safely disposed (read: thrown) out the window, only Ren and Nora can have that ball busting action.**

 **That's not why this took so long, it's actually because I did write a Lemon Scene, though not between who you might think so it was irrelevant. (I think.) Which I then had to take out then rewrite the second half cause of that so, meh.**

 **But the real question you should be asking yourself, is this a dream or was the last chapter a dream?**

 **Spoiler: The last chapter was a dream, I'm not an asshole (At this moment)**

 **I don't have much to say in regards to this Chapter, so feel free to leave your thoughts or Opinions on what you thought about the chapter or if you want you can send me a PM and speed the process up of my response to you.**

 **So...uh...yea...**

 **See ya next time!**


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Pyrrha stepped out of the bathroom feeling refreshed after the long overdue shower. The cool air of the bedroom nipped at her exposed skin as all she wore was a tank top and gym shorts. In front of her was Jaune, who was stripped down to the waist sitting on the bed wearing some loose basketball shorts.

The blonde teen had his back turned to her as he was tying his shoes on; Pyrrha couldn't help but smile as she climbed on the bed behind him then wrapped her arms around him. Her smile grew wider at feeling Jaune jump a little at the contact.

"Jesus, you scared me there Pyr." He said laughing softly as he reached up gripping her hands that were clasped under his collar bone.

"Well if you didn't spend so much time daydreaming then you wouldn't get startled whenever I did this." She replied cheerfully before letting go of him to sit with her back resting against his.

"I guess you're right since being here with you is already a dream come true." He said in a matter of fact tone that just made her laugh more.

"That's so cheesy Jaune."

"What? I don't think so." He said as he turned around to smile at her.

"That's what you think." She said as she leaned back resting her head on his left thigh.

"Well then what do you think?" A mischievous smile spread across the red head's face as she twisted around to get on her knees before laying him down on the bed.

"I'll show you." She said before leaning down to kiss him, the warmth of his lips seemed to spread a fire through her chest. Jaune placed his hands on her hips before slowing moving upwards to rest them under her tank top on the small of her back; she leaned back from his face with a smile.

"My, I think someone's enjoying this."

"What can I say? I'm enjoying show and tell." Pyrrha leaned down again kissing him a little rougher.

"Then you're in for a pleasant surprise." She whispered in his ear.

"If I ever say I hate surprises again, slap me." Pyrrha smiled as she lowered her hand till it rested on his groin. She took joy as his eyes widen in surprise at where she was touching.

Butterflies were swarming her stomach at the anticipation at what was coming as she could barely even believe what she was doing even as she was doing it. It wasn't long till she could feel him stiffening under her hand.

"My, I think someone finally decided to _stand up_ and join the party." She said with a little laugh but inside she groaned at how stupid that sounded. Thankfully Jaune just laughed as well, Pyrrha leaned down to kiss him again as her right hand snaked down going under his shorts and underwear.

She was now in direct physical contact with his penis, giddiness and anticipation flooded her once more. Scooting down from her position on top of him, she began pulling down Jaune's shorts along with his underwear.

Soon enough Jaune was lying naked on their bed with an erect penis, Pyrrha was treading new waters now as this was the first time she's ever seen one in person. Sure she's seen images in sexual education classes or looked online when she was in the midst of puberty when curiosity got to her.

This however was something new; as it belonged to the person she cherished most in the world at the moment. Gulping she reached out and gripped it with her right hand but only lightly as she had no idea what she was actually doing.

Then she began to move her hand up and down slowly. It felt kind of weird at first but the more and more she did it the more she felt comfortable. Plus whenever she glanced up at Jaune she could see that he was indeed enjoying it which only made her more confident in her actions.

After a few minutes Pyrrha decided to push even farther, she leaned up, reached up to her tank top with her free hand and slowly pulled it off her. She wasn't sure what Jaune might think of her breasts; as she always felt that they were sort of average.

However the way Jaune's eyes seemed to widen to an almost comical proportion along with the twitching of his dick before her suggested that he still liked them. Even though she was glad to know that he liked them she still covered her nipples with one arm.

"I'm taking it that you like what you see?" She asked and Jaune's eyes focused back on her own.

"Pyrrha, to a guy like me, I feel like I've just died and gone to heaven." Jaune tilted his head a little.

"Though I suppose if I did die, rigor mortis would at least still serve a purpose for use in this situation but then again I would go flaccid before it sets in."

"Jaune." Pyrrha interrupted.

"Yea?"

"Stop ruining the moment please."

"Sorry."

"Ya know Jaune, words are nice but I think you should apologize with action instead." Pyrrha said and thankfully he understood the hint. She was however surprised when he wrapped an arm around her waist she before pulling her forward. Even more surprising was the fact he didn't move to kiss her but bury his face between her breasts.

"Are you enjoying yourself?" She asked and he responded by lifting his head up to kiss both of her breasts which she thought was incredible cute.

"Having you in my life is nothing but a joy Pyrrha." He leaned up and said softly before kissing her. Whatever response she might have had melted away as Jaune lowered her onto her back with one hand on her breast as the other snaked down past her waist.

Pyrrha had fingered herself a few times when she was younger but the experience always felt sort of lacking to her. As even with her passion it always felt incomplete to do the act by herself but as Jaune's fingers rubbed up and down before slipping in it was completely different.

She realized that she shouldn't just lay there doing nothing but enjoying this wonderful, exquisite gift that made her want to close her eyes to enjoy every second.

Her mind jerked itself to a stop as it tried to refocus her. She needed to do something not just lie there like a dead fish.

But Jaune was so good with his fingers that it was hard to focus. She wanted to scold herself but that might ruin the moment so instead she just reached out to grab Jaune's dick once more to begin stroking it at a slow but steady rhythm.

"Room for one more?" A new voice asked and the red head tilted her head back to see Yang. The blonde girl herself was naked as well and Pyrrha was thoroughly confused on what was going on.

Yang walked up to them, her exposed breasts jiggling a little as she reached out to rub her hands across Jaune's chest before leaning forward to kiss him. Pyrrha felt a spike of anger pierce her chest as Yang drew Jaune's attention away from her.

"Damn it Yang!" She shouted as she sat up.

"What?" The blonde girl asked from her seat across from Pyrrha while illuminated by numerous candles. The red head blinked as she saw that Yang was completely dressed and eating out of a plastic container. Looking around she could see that she was in a church and realized that she had been dreaming.

"Ya know, I thought you were having a really hot dream with all that moaning but whatever it was I don't think I want to know now." Yang said which made Pyrrha realize that she had become more than a little damp between her legs.

"God damn it."

* * *

 **Elsewhere…**

Jaune sat back on the back steps of the apartment building with an arm full of the group's weapons along with a weapon cleaning kit.

He had been having a hard time trying to unwind over the last few hours. At first doing some exercise had been a nice distraction both physically and mentally but after a while he had to stop since he couldn't overdo it.

After words he tried to do some cleaning, there were still a few apartments that they had yet to go through. However Weiss, Reese, Bolin and Nadir had already decided to go through with that.

Checking up with Blake he found that her, Ren and Ciel were going over copies of reports that other Auxiliary teams had submitted about their own missions. Jaune wanted to join them but Ren had said that they were handling it and that he would give Jaune a synopsis later.

One by one Jaune would go and check those that were still in the apartments but none of them really needed him to do anything. As such he was out in the backyard to clean them since as far as he was aware they hadn't been touched in a while.

Nora, Ruby and the new girl Penny however had all seemed to have gone off somewhere. Jaune of course didn't know where as did anyone else.

As such he had one of the M40 rifles, the second apparently had been taken by Mina when she left. Along with that he had the spare P226, the two unclaimed Berettas, his Glock and the Mossberg Shockwave.

It was tedious work but at the same time it was also calming. As he took apart the M40 he realized that this may just be a coping mechanism by his own mind to deal with the sudden down time.

The need to be doing something to occupy his hands or mind was more paramount than ever in their new world. As how did one stay sane when the undead were taking over the world, turning everything he knew and understood on its head?

Going down that line of questions did nothing but just open up a new avenue of questions.

Like if or when signs of decomposition can be seen in the undead. Though if he had to be honest as far as he was aware, it might not have any effect since they're already breaking what would amount to as the shattering of everyone law of nature or the universe he would think exist.

Then in more practical questions that he could wrap his head around there was the question on how long till the undead make it en masse to Mountain Glen? Or how long till the city collapses under its weight, which was also a very possible event.

He didn't know how many people there were but he knew that the Army couldn't sustain them forever. There were no regular shipments of fuel, food, water, clothes, building materials, spare parts, trained personnel, medical supplies, and ammunition.

Right now even their access to electricity was something that he didn't want to start taking granted. Proper heating, real food, comfortable beds and essential security that kept peace of mind were things that he was actually worried about for them.

No matter how much he thought about it there Mountain Glen was living on borrowed time. The mountains should make it difficult for the undead to come to them without getting stuck somewhere due to the steep terrain, trees and other natural obstacles.

It however also meant that they had their own limited amount of supplies as there was no way they could grow food, raise livestock, or extract enough resources to sustain themselves.

He might have to go to the Mayor's office and see if he can try getting some answers from them. Whether or not they were good answers remains to be seen as he doubts they would want any sort of information that might negatively impact morale to leak.

"Oh hey Jaune." A voice called out and he looked over his shoulder to see Ruby. Behind her Nora and Penny were carrying bags that looked completely full.

"Uh, hey Ruby, did ya'll just come back right now?" He asked and the younger girl nodded.

"Did you just say, ya'll?" Nora asked as she scrunched up her face at him.

"Maybe?"

"I'm disappointed in you."

"Whatever, anyways, where have you three been?" He asked looking back at Ruby who was fishing something out of a bag that Penny carried. She turned towards him holding a car battery and Jaune tilted his head in confusion.

"Where the hell did you get a car battery from?" Ruby nodded towards Nora who started to whistle very poorly. Jaune set aside the dissembled receiver of the M40 than stood up to look in the other bags; he wasn't sure what to make of what was inside.

"You guys didn't steal this did you?" Jaune asked as he pulled out what looked to be a webcam box.

"We didn't steal that." Penny said and Jaune looked at her as she just shrugged. Turning towards Nora he went to check her bags but she pulled them away.

"I, uh, wouldn't do that."

"Just, show me Nora." He said and Nora held open one of the bags. Peering inside Jaune was surprised to see what looked to be two car batteries. He gestured at the other bag and Nora nodded.

"Do you do realize that if someone saw you take this stuff then come here they could report us to the Army for breaking the law."

"What's the worst that can happen?" Ruby asked as Jaune rubbed his eyes vigorously.

"Well the best case scenario of getting caught would just mean some point loss and a reprimand. On the extreme end they could imprison or execute us." He said and the younger girl opened then closed her mouth a few times.

"Uh, what's the most likely response they would have if we get reported?"

"They'll strip of us our position as 1st Auxiliary Group taking everything they gave us plus interest then kick us out of the apartment." Jaune explained causing the three girls to exchange looks.

"I guess we should head back out." Penny said but Jaune shook his head.

"There's no point now, if you try returning your goods then it might just cause more trouble. No, instead just do what you were planning with them." Jaune looked at Ruby.

"Speaking of plans, what did you three hope to do with this stuff?" The younger girl seemed to brighten at the question.

"Well Penny had a nifty idea of using webcams as impromptu security cameras, so we went out getting batteries, wires, cameras, and some tools that she might need."

"Do you really know what you're doing?" Jaune asked looking back at her and the orange hair girl nodded enthusiastically.

"I guess you can say I picked up an interesting in tinkering with stuff from my father." Jaune nodded slowly at this as he crossed his arms thinking of a response.

"Well, uh, alright then. Let me know if there's anything you need or when you're finished." He said the three of them headed inside. Sighing he turned around and sat down again to begin cleaning the weapons.

* * *

 **A Few Hours Later…**

Pyrrha stood by the window in the back kitchen of the Church that Father Absalom used as a part of his small living space.

Outside the sun was starting to set so she had volunteered to make the group some food for dinner. Looking to her right she could see the pot she had placed on the stove with some chicken stock, frozen mixed vegetables and black pepper was boiling rapidly.

On her left was a cup with a few table spoons of corn starch mixed with water and a bowl of beaten eggs. Pouring them into the pot she began to stir slowly as it bubbled, before long the egg drop soup was complete or at least she hoped it was.

Turning off the stove she turned towards the small table in the center of the kitchen. On it sat six bowls with a plate with an uncut loaf of bread. Picking the bread up she squeezed it and grimaced at how little it gave way.

Still she took up a bread knife to cut it into slices; she hoped that the soup would at help make it soft enough to eat again if they ate it in tandem.

The ingredients she used also happened to be the last food that the Father had left that wasn't canned. It made her wonder how long he could sustain himself since it seemed he didn't really plan on leaving the church to go looking for supplies.

Though she supposed that could change later down the line when the food and water situation was close to completely out.

"Something smells good." Sun said as he, Arslan and Yang entered the kitchen.

"Sun's right, what did you make Pyrrha?" The blonde girl asked as she walked up to the stove and lifted the lid off the pot.

"Soup?"

"Yea, I got the recipe from one of the cooking books we found our first week in Mountain Glen."

"Ya know it's kind of crazy how long it's been since this all started." Sun said as the three of them sat down at the table as Pyrrha picked up the pot to set it in the center.

"Honestly, I don't even know how long it's been." Yang said and Sun shrugged.

"I won't lie; I haven't been really keeping count."

"Really?" Yang asked then looked towards Pyrrha.

"Do you know how long it's been?" Pyrrha shrugged as well before pouring soup in the bowls then setting it before them.

"I can't say as I've sort of lost track of the time as well but I know it's been more than two weeks." Arslan said between sips of soup.

"Fuck." Yang said softly as she picked up a spoon then stirred the soup slowly.

"I would remind you not to swear in the House of the Lord but technically you're in my residence I'll let it slid this time." A new voice spoke up, the four teens turned towards the door to see Qrow and Father Absalom. The elderly priest stepped silently forward to take hold of a bowl that Pyrrha proffered to him.

"This smells wonderful young one, thank you." Pyrrha nodded as she held a bowl out to Qrow who gave a silent nod. The six of them ate silently, not because they didn't have anything to say but merely because it felt more appropriate to say nothing.

"So I think we should set up a watch schedule." Qrow said breaking the silence first as he set his now empty bowl next to him on the counter.

"I'll go first." Sun was the first to say much to Pyrrha's surprise.

"Alright then you'll be on guard till midnight then you'll switch." Qrow said as Pyrrha raised a hand.

"I'll take the midnight shift." Qrow looked at her then nodded.

"And I'll take the four o'clock shift."

"What are we supposed to do?" Yang asked as her and Arslan looked at Qrow but the older man just shrugged.

"Get as much sleep as you can or if you can't sleep then find whoever's on guard then keep them company or whatever suits you." Father Absalom chimed in.

"I'll also be awake if any of you need my assistance for anything."

"Father you don't have to do that." Qrow said but the older man cut him off.

"Its fine, I don't get much sleep anymore since this started." Qrow shrugged.

"Well that's settled then, Sun you can start your shift in a few hours till then I suggest getting some more rest." Qrow said before leaving the room with Father Absalom following a few minutes later.

"So, what should we do?" Sun asked looking at the others as Yang grinned before pulling out a deck of cards.

"Let's play bitches."

* * *

 **Elsewhere…**

Jaune stepped out of the apartment building; he fidgeted with the holster of his Glock that he had taken off his vest before putting it on his waistband. He had wanted to go for a walk as it got dark but Helena had reminded him that he should arm himself as there was surely a possibility that someone might try mugging him or something.

As much as he tried to assuage her feelings he knew the only way for that to actually happen was him arming himself. Though as he walked down the street he realized that he could have just taken one of the Ka-Bar knives that they still had but it was a little too late to go back for it.

As Jaune turned the street's corner he was surprised to see a larger than normal amount of people heading in one particular direction. In fact he swore he could hear yelling of sorts in the distance but it was a little difficult to tell what exactly it was over the general noise of the city.

So he decided to follow the crowd, he supposed most of them were just curious to what was going on. However he noticed that a small percentage of them were wearing hoodies or masks as they carried signs, sticks, hammers or broken masonry.

He picked up the pace of his walking before breaking into a jog; the closer he got to the source of whatever was going on the more he could hear chanting.

Turning another corner he could see a large mass of people gathering for a protest at an intersection with three of the four streets being blocked by what he assumed was riot police. The police covered the north, west and east streets while the protestors were pushing to the center from the south side.

The noise was incredible as people screamed and sirens from the police vehicles wailed however Jaune could pick out one particular thing which was being taken up as a chant.

"TELL THE TRUTH! TELL THE TRUTH!" Jaune had to guess that there were at least a few hundred people with more and more coming to see what was going on. It was starting to look like whatever protest this was would surely delve into a riot as people began smashing nearby windows or abandoned cars.

He could even see a few people using claw and sledgehammers to smash up the sidewalks before passing out chunks of concrete. Were they going to throw those, the answer to his question came from someone near him.

"FUCK THE POLICE!" Then all hell started to break loose as chunks of masonry were hurled at the waiting police lines. People immediately started to separate from those that wanted to vent some anger and those that were just there to see what was going on.

Jaune ran up the steps of a nearby building where a small group of people were taking pictures with cameras. For what reason they were doing that Jaune wasn't sure as he hopped up on the side of the stairs to see the unfolding riot.

The riot police had six vehicles parked behind their main line of officers however Jaune could see two moving towards the front. On top of them he could see an officer manning the vehicle's water cannon.

Soon the riot police started to move forward in step as they beat their batons on the inside of their clear shields. A few dozen of the protestors threw rocks or bottles but most of them clattered off the shields that it looked like they were going to be pushed back without much of a fight.

In the corner of his eye however something peculiar flew through the air only to shatter at the feet of the officers. A puff of fire shot up engulfing three officers who immediately dropped their shields and batons as others turned their attention to them.

The protestors rushed at the frazzled section of the police line as the officers at either ends pushed forward to meet them. People were screaming and yelling indistinctly now as the brawl in the middle of the intersection broke out.

Two more Molotov cocktails were being thrown now, both of which landed amongst the brawling people setting protestor and officer alike on fire. Behind them the water cannon started spewing water over the brawling people at the protestors behind them who were either throwing more objects or trying to join the fray.

More officers were now moving around the fray and began to cut the south street off from the intersection. He could hear them yelling for people to move as they shoved them backwards to create space.

A few of them were throwing tear gas canisters and even a few stun grenades into the crowd making more people screaming as they either tried to get away or push back. As one stun grenade popped loudly nearby making Jaune's ear ring loudly he knew that was he cue to get to hell out of there.

However as he tried to leave he found the press of bodies too thick to go through forcing him to try retracing his steps. The new riot line was pressing closer on his back at the same time; he was going to be crushed soon.

Turning back towards the building he ran up to it and grabbed the handle but it was locked. Looking to his left and right he spotted a window on his right.

"Heads up!" Someone shouted behind him and he was pulled down as a bottle smashed against the door he had been in front of. Looking at whoever grabbed him, he was surprised to see that it was Neptune.

The blue hair teen didn't look so great, his hair was disheveled and his skin looked like someone smeared dirt or mud all over him.

"Neptune!?"

"No time!" The other teen said as he hurled a large rock at the window that Jaune had spotted earlier. The rock went through leaving a hole in the center of it; two men however also jumped in carrying a trash can between them before throwing it at the window as well.

Jaune didn't say anything to Neptune as he warily followed the two men, avoiding the shattered remains of the glass window, as they climbed inside. He didn't realize however that they were actually heading inside a jewelry store.

The two men started smashing displays and grabbing whatever they could as more people piled in to grab what they could. Jaune looked around to see if there was any way out of the shop so he head towards what he believed was the back of the shop.

Thankfully the door was unlocked as he grabbed the handle behind him more people were looting what they could until another stun grenade flew in. The effect of the device in closed confines was enough to shake most of the looters nerves from staying in there as several riot officers started beating people with their batons.

Jaune however pushed on into what he assumed was a dark hallway. Pulling out his Glock he switched on the flashlight attachment, the light from it illuminating the hallway slightly as he panned it up.

"Jaune?!" Neptune's voice yelled from behind as he came barreling in behind him before quickly shutting the door. Jaune ignored him as he jogged down the hallway quickly checking each door he saw but all of them were locked. It wasn't until he reached a right turn that he could see an exit sign over a wooden door.

Walking forward he tried to open it but it was locked cursing Jaune tried slamming his shoulder into the door but the wooden door was built solidly so it barely budged.

"Fuck we're trapped!" Neptune shouted from behind as the sound of a door breaking open could be heard along with the shouting and screaming from the riot.

"Stand back!" Jaune yelled as he raised the Glock then emptied the magazine around the door handle. People started yelling and Jaune could hear running as the slide locked back. Not having time to reload he raised his leg and kicked at where he shot.

The door flew open as his foot connected with the weakened section of the door. Wincing from the pain in his foot as he hobbled out Jaune made his way into an alleyway. Looking left and right he could see the flashing lights of police cars in both directions with people running in the distance.

He needed to make it back to the apartment building as this riot was far too comfort nor did he know if it could get bigger. As if to answer his thoughts there was a series of pops and crackles in the distance followed by more louds bangs.

Jaune wasn't sure if that was gunfire or not so he just ran in the direction of the apartment. Behind him he could hear someone else and looking over his shoulder he could see Neptune keeping pace with him.

Slowing down at they neared the exit Jaune pulled his Glock out then ejected the spent magazine. He tucked it away in a pocket before taking his only spare out then sliding it into the magazine well before hitting the slide release.

"Neptune, why are you following me?" Jaune asked as he looked at the disheveled teen.

"I think it's pretty damn obvious."

"No, it's not."

"Is this really the time to be fucking ask me this shit?" Neptune snapped and Jaune had to admit he had a good point. So he turned back towards the street then tucked his handgun back in its holster, having it out in the packed streets might be a bad idea.

People were shouting at each other or running back and forth from the initial site of the protestor. Jaune could see more than a few brandishing makeshift weapons or shattering the sidewalk for projectiles. He didn't understand what it was they were trying to achieve but whatever cause they believed in this didn't seem like the way to gain sympathy.

Jaune pushed out into the street, ahead of him he could see a group of people standing on cars calling for others to fight against the government's lies. He wasn't sure what they thought they knew but seeing how some of the people looked to be agreeing with them it must have gotten traction somewhere.

The gathering was interrupted however as twenty riot officers appeared up the street. The people on the car pointed them out and made their way to intercept the riot police.

Already Jaune could see stone and bottles being hurled by a few people towards the officers. He reckoned though that he could probably get past them.

Glancing over his shoulder to check if Neptune was still following him Jaune dashed forward as the two groups clashed. People were yelling or screaming as they fought while police sirens just grew louder and louder around them as no doubt more officers were arriving.

Jaune kicked aside a man who was struggling to pull a riot officer's baton away only to see another officer swinging his baton at him. Raising his left arm to take the hit from the baton, Jaune nearly yelled in pain as the blow reverberate down his arm.

Neptune came around barreling into the officer sending him stumbling back as Jaune swore loudly then pressed forward as Neptune broke away from the officer when two more rioters came to his aid beating at the man with metal pipes.

Jaune was already moving away, hoping a little that Neptune would lose him in the crowd but as he turned a corner close to the apartment he looked over his shoulder once more to see Neptune. Groaning mentally he continued running thankfully the street was a lot clearer as it was mostly other people who were trying to get away from the riot.

He finally started to slow down as they neared the corner of the street where the apartment was. Jaune turned to Neptune with his arms crossed, the blue hair teen snarled a little as Jaune got in his way.

"What are you doing? We should head back before the riot spreads here or something." Neptune said as he tried to push past him but Jaune put his hand on Neptune's chest stopping him.

"You're right, _I_ should be heading back. You should go back to wherever you've been staying." Jaune said but Neptune ignored him as he tried pushing past again. As Jaune put his hand out Neptune sent a jab at his face, Jaune's head snapped back from the blow as it struck his nose.

"What the fuck Neptune?" Jaune asked as he pressed a finger up his nose.

"You stole her from me!" He shouted as he swung at Jaune again with a wide right hook, Jaune was ready however as he raised his left arm to intercept the blow before it came fully around as he grabbed Neptune by the throat squeezing hard.

Jaune pulled Neptune to the right, slamming his back against the wall of a building; Jaune gritted his teeth as he watched the blue hair teens face turn dark as he continued choking him. Neptune's hands clawed at his arm and face but he ignored them.

As much as he wanted to continue chocking the teen the anger he had felt was already gone so Jaune let go of his neck. Neptune gasped and coughed as he slid down to the sidewalk.

"I don't have time to deal with whatever bullshit you've got going on." Jaune said as he breathed heavily from the adrenaline that coursed through his veins.

"Just give her back." Neptune said softly as finally caught his breath and Jaune kneeled down.

"Give who back?"

"Don't play dumb, Weiss, you wanted her before and now that the world's ending you got what you wanted." Neptune accused but Jaune just snorted at that.

"I didn't do anything nor do I have any desire to pursue Weiss. She can make her own decision and to be frank I'm interested in Pyrrha and we both know that."

"If you like Pyrrha then why didn't you leave with her earlier? You stayed behind so you can be here where Weiss is as well." Neptune pointed out and Jaune jerked his head back a little at that.

"How do you know Pyrrha left earlier?" That's when it clicked, why Neptune ran into him, along with his ragged appearance and hygiene.

"Have you been spying on us?" Jaune asked and the teen looked away with disgust either for himself or Jaune evident on his face.

"I had too; I needed to make sure she was safe." Jaune stood up, not sure what to think as he looked down at Neptune. Ultimately he didn't have anything to say as the only thing he felt was pity. Turning away he started to walk away from Neptune who called out to him.

"Where are you going!? Don't you have anything to say?!" He shouted but Jaune looked back at him once more and simply shook his head.

* * *

 **A Few Minutes Later…**

As Jaune climbed the front steps, the front door of the apartment opened. Nora, Ruby and Ren came out with weapons pointed towards the street. Helena, Weiss and Blake were close behind them as they came out.

"Jaune!" His younger sister shouted as she embraced him.

"Hey now what's all this about?" Jaune asked as Helena tightened her grip around him.

"It's seems a riot broke out and it's pretty bad." Ren explained to which Jaune nodded.

"Yea I saw it happen but I don't think we have to worry about much since they'll probably have this contained in an hour or two."

"You'll want to talk to Ciel then, she's on the radio at the moment in her room. She asked us to send you to her when you come back." Weiss said and Jaune glanced over his shoulder at the far end of the street where he had come from. He wasn't surprised to see that Neptune was still standing over there looking in their direction.

"Jaune?" Helena asked but he turned forward and walked inside. Ren and Nora closed the door behind them as he went to find Ciel. As he opened the door to her room, he could hear radio chatter coming from inside.

"Jaune, you're here." The older girl said as she stood up and Jaune nodded his greetings to her.

"You wanted to see me?"

"Yes, I assume you're aware of the rioting?" Jaune nodded.

"I saw it start actually."

"There's more to it, word is spreading down the chain that riots are breaking all over the city." Ciel said as she looked back at a clipboard next to the radio.

"Do they know what's caused them?" The older woman shrugged a little.

"Supposedly the people got the notion that the Governments have something to do with the dead rising. You know the typical conspiracy tales that spread whenever something big happens." She said and Jaune shrugged.

"Not sure I can blame them on that, they're trying to find answers that no one's been able to provide outside of the conventional wrath of God sort of thing."

"That doesn't matter right now; what matters is that the riots are already straining Law Enforcement resources to the point that several National Guard Companies have been delegated to assist them." Ciel picked up the clipboard then flipped the paper on it over.

"What's worse is apparently some of the Auxiliary groups have been hit." Jaune blinked.

"I'm sorry, what's been hit?"

"Two buildings that housed the 13th and 21st Auxiliary Sections were firebombed. No injuries were reported but most of their supplies were taken or destroyed by the fire." Jaune rubbed his jaw as he tried to wrap his head around the situation.

"Shit, does that mean we might get hit by the rioters?" Ciel nodded.

"That's what they warned me about and said that we won't have the support the Police and National Guard as they'll be used to contain the rioting we should at least secure our vicinity or make safe of positions against the chance the rioters will turn their attention to us." Jaune ran a hand through his hair.

"Alright, you keep monitoring the radio while I gather everyone to let them know what's going on." Jaune said as he turned to see Ren, Nora, Helena and the rest of the original group from Vale standing in the hallway.

"You all heard that?" He asked and they nodded.

"Then what the fuck are you standing all around for? Double check and secure the doors and windows of the first two floors. I don't want anyone or anything getting a clear shot of getting instead without some effort. Blake, Weiss, I want you two to go and get the others from upstairs. Ruby I want you to gather every single weapon along with corresponding ammunition and set them up in the waiting room." Jaune ordered gesturing to a door on his left where guests could wait for the apartment owner or tenets. As everyone broke off Jaune headed towards the front door then opened it to step out.

The evening was starting to fall and Jaune could see the lights of several helicopters in the air. The steady thrumming of their rotors was like a soft beat to the clamoring of the city.

Looking up and down the street he could see people running from building to building. Some of them were shouting or fighting but more than a few were actually running out carrying things that they must have taken from inside.

A few people were looking in his direction but they mostly just kept on running with whatever they had in hand. Looking around once more he spotted a familiar head of blue hair, Neptune was watching him. Jaune didn't make any motion to acknowledge the teen but instead headed back inside.

He had no idea how long the rioting would last or if it would reach them but in either case he knew that they needed to be prepared.

* * *

 **Later…**

Pyrrha was browsing through some of the books that Father Absalom had in his study room when someone cleared their throat behind her. She turned to see Yang standing at the doorway.

"What's up Yang?"

"Nothing much." The blonde girl said as she stepped in the room.

"If there wasn't anything you wanted to talk about then there was really no need to announce your presence."

"Well what if you accidentally shot me because I startled you?"

"Please Yang; I would never shoot you just because you startled me."

"Wait, would you shoot me for something else?"

"I mean if you got bit or went crazy I would probably do it then but I hope you would do the same if the situation was reversed." Yang shrugged as she sat down in the old leather chair situated in the center of the room.

"Has Qrow mentioned what we'll be doing tomorrow? We are supposed to be monitoring their movement." Pyrrha asked.

"I don't know but I doubt there's going to be much for us to do, we saw what they were like when we were moving towards the church. They must have just got here by happenstance."

"Maybe but I find it hard to imagine them not trying to hunt down the living in some form or fashion no matter the distance we put between them and us."

"I don't even want to imagine that." Yang grumbled as she picked up a book that had been lying on a small table next to the chair.

"Say, are you religious Pyrrha?" Yang asked as she realized that she was holding a bible.

"Maybe?" Pyrrha said after a moment.

"What do you mean maybe? Are you agnostic?"

"I guess that's the best way to put it." Pyrrha said as she looked at the other girl.

"That's cool, I'm not much of a religious person as well, sure I believe there is a god and what not but I'm just not going to go out of my way in worshipping. I figured just being a good person is fine enough." Yang said as Pyrrha leaned against the bookshelf.

"I can respect that, I'm more or less along the same line as that." She said and the two girls went silent for a few moments before Yang spoke up again.

"So, what was the dream?" Pyrrha cocked her head to the side.

"Excuse me?"

"Earlier, you were all tossing and turning as you moaned. What were you dreaming about?" Pyrrha had a flash of what she dream and could feel the heat rise to her cheeks.

"It's nothing, in fact I don't even remember what it was about." She said but Yang merely smiled.

"Come on girl, can't you at least tell me the juicy parts? I know you were enjoying yourself near the end there." The conversation fell into a playful banter, outside of the room however Qrow watched silently. He didn't want to disturb them just make sure they weren't going to do anything stupid.

"Qrow?" Arslan's voice called out interrupting his thoughts; he looked at the dark skin girl.

"Ah, just the person I was hoping to see."

"Uh huh, why were you just standing there?" She asked slowly as if unsure what he might say or do. It occurred to him that she still didn't trust their group as a whole even to this point, he respected that.

"I needed to ask you something." Qrow said as he gestured her to follow him, which she reluctantly did.

"So what do you want to ask me?"

"I need you to take my shift after Pyrrha's."

"Why?"

"I need to go do something."

"I'm not going to help you if you don't explain to me what it is you're planning Mr. Branwen. I'm not your nieces I deserve to be told the truth." Qrow couldn't help but admire the younger girl's stance but he didn't have the time or energy in butting head.

"I'm going out to investigate something that Father Absalom told me about that apparently occurred a few days before we arrived here." She tilted her head at that.

"What happened?" Qrow rubbed his chin.

"Well from what the Father told me, someone lighted a bunch of fireworks which subsequently also was just before he started noticing an increased amount of zombies in the town." Arslan frowned.

"Wait, wouldn't that suggest that someone is indeed pushing if not guiding the zombies towards Mountain Glen?"

"Maybe, maybe not, either case I'm not very sure which is why I'm going to go and investigate the area he talked about. I may not be back till morning however as such I need someone to take my shift." The shorter girl sighed as she ran a hand through her hair.

"Fine but don't keep whatever you find a secret from us. If you won't tell them the first chance you get then I'll do it for you." Arslan said as she crossed her arms and Qrow smiled.

"Fair enough."

* * *

 **2 Hours Later…**

Qrow climbed slowly through the shattered window of a large building, inside he could vaguely make out that there were a number of tables and chairs that were turned over.

He had spent what felt like an insane amount of time moving through the streets till he made to what looked to be a decent spot that Father Absalom had pointed out to him when it was still light out.

As he made his way slowly through the mess he reckoned that it was probably a small café of sorts.

It didn't really matter to him as the building was three stories tall which meant that it must have a set of stairs that led to the other floors or even better the roof. He was forced to stop a few times as he bumped against tables or chairs in the dark which made him stop to listen for the sounds of movement.

The only thing he could ever hear besides his own breathing was the wind and the occasional guttural sound of a zombie out in the street that he hoped hadn't notice him. Of course he grateful for that but the mere fact he could hear them inside the shop set his teeth on edge at what might happen.

If he somehow drew their attention to him, then he wouldn't last long as he had no idea what was in front of him nor would fighting serve him any good in the long run.

The more he'd kill the more it would draw them to him and since he didn't have anything silent to kill them with aside from a pocket knife he picked up at the apartments he would be forced to use his rifle.

He kicked a chair and the sound of something shattering made his heart stop. Holding his breath he listened as the sound of groaning increased outside.

Crouching down he raised his rifle to his shoulder and waited. The groaning was getting louder and louder but it didn't seem like it was rushing at him. He hated waiting to see what might happen but he knew that acting rashly would get him killed.

The groaning was far louder now; if he had to guess he'd reckon that there must be a few of them outside the shattered windows that he had climbed in.

Yet nothing seemed to come through and push its way towards him. After a few more moments he released his breath as he slowly stood up.

As much as he preferred to stay in the dark in hopes it would help conceal him from the undead he knew that if he tried going any further without one he'd only get himself killed. So he patted his pockets till he pulled out a little handheld flashlight and clicked the button on the back of it.

A small luminescent circle appeared on the floor in front of him, shattered glass shining up at him as it caught the light. Looking over his shoulder he wondered if anything that could see the light would react to it.

Not wanting to find out he headed towards a set of stairs built into the wall on his left. As he took the first few steps he couldn't help but feel conscious at how much they creaked as he climbed them.

Even if it didn't actually draw any zombies towards him, it was still an incredibly nerve wracking thing to shatter his attempt at being as silent as possible. Though he couldn't really complain considering he broke something that actually got the attention of the zombies for a few moments.

Shaking his head a little he continued up the stairs till he reached the second floor where the set ended which meant that there would be another set somewhere for him to take to the third floor.

However there was no way he could not notice the heavy smell of death in the air, much more than even outside in the streets.

Flexing his right hand he gripped his rifle's handle as he panned his light around the area with his left hand. There were three hallways facing the stairs but he only needed to find the one that led to the next set of stairs.

Panning his light around for a sign of where to go, he stopped when he found what he was looking for indicting the direction of the next staircase. What he didn't want to see however was the splash of blood that had been smeared on the lower half of the wall.

Looking around once more before walking to the blood stain, he knelt down and touched it with a finger. The blood was dry and flaked away a little when he touched it.

It was old and that was a good thing as whoever it belonged to might have found its way out of the building by now. As he stepped past in the hallway he could only think of one thing to say.

"Fuck me." He whispered as his light panned over a hallway that would give nightmares to any sane person.

Bodies were littered throughout the hallway with splashes of dried blood covering the walls and even in the ceiling as he looked up at it.

Walking slowly forward he tapped a few of the bodies with his foot but nothing moved or reacted to his actions. So he decided to see if he could get a closer look at what happened.

Some of the bodies seemed to be police officers judging by their torn uniforms and bodies. Though seeing that they were in the middle of the cluster of bodies made it seem as if they were attack on both sides from the undead.

One officer had their face ripped off, with both eyeballs missing. Leaning forward he could see what looked to be bite marks on the dried out remains of flesh on the sides of the head.

Moving on to the next he could see that it was a woman judging by the figure, her right arm had been ripped off and her throat was ripped open giving him a nice if not unpleasant look on the inside of a human neck.

Honestly he realized that it was pointless to look at the bodies, it was clear who did it and nothing he did could change that.

Yet at the same time there some something that tickled the back of his mind.

If he recalled correctly he and Alexander had seen a man bitten by a zombie. After he died he shortly came back to life to attack them and the other bystanders.

These officers however were attacked and killed by the undead but they didn't come back as zombies themselves. The only thing that he could think of was the fact that the officers did in fact beat the zombies and the ones on the ground before him were simply casualties that they put a round into to keep from getting up.

Looking back at the bodies he began to root around them looking for any signs of gunshot wounds. Which he did find in two of them but the rest he couldn't quite tell how they were dealt with, at the same time he noticed that their magazine holders were empty.

Though it could have meant that they just used all of their ammunition but once again he couldn't be sure as he didn't want to go rooting around the other bodies for spent magazines. Sighing he stood up and flashed his light down either side of the hallway to make sure nothing had wandered towards him.

Lucky for him nothing was there and nor could he hear anything that indicated there was anything else on the floor with him. So he pressed on till he was able to find what appeared to the stairs leading to the third floor.

As he ascended the steps, he could hear something however. He wasn't sure what it was but he knew that it couldn't be another living person.

He looked back down the stairs thinking about how it would be best if he simply left the building for another one but he wasn't sure if there was really any other safe way into getting into one from the street level.

Sighing softly he made it up the rest of the steps to the last floor and panned his flashlight around but thankfully he didn't see any movement. He did notice what appeared to be traces of blood on the walls but there was spots on all of them so he wasn't sure which way might have something waiting for him.

He pulled out his Glock, the same one that Alexander had given to him the day this all started. Another reminder of his old friend, a great man, a dead man, Qrow wouldn't lie that it hurt a little at seeing how little remained of the Arc Family.

As it was something he was all too familiar with his parents were dead, which he was fine with, Raven was still missing for all intents and purposes. Though they hadn't spoken to each other for nearly two years before this all started so for all he knew she was dead before this all started.

Summer was dead and Taiyang he had no idea what to think of him. Was he dead, a zombie, or alive somewhere trying to look for his daughters?

Panning his flashlight around, he spotted a small corridor off to the side. Walking towards it he peered around the corner to see that it said authorized personnel only.

Walking forward he looked over his shoulder one last time before trying to open the door, as the door opened he wondered if the power had still been on then would an alarm have sounded. In either case he was kind of glad that it wasn't on as that would have royally screwed him over.

He could feel cool air of the night blow through the open door and with one last glance he looked over his shoulder to make sure nothing was following him then stepped out.

Once on the roof Qrow took a look around and found something interesting. Clustered in the center of the rooftop were the remains of fireworks. All of them looked to be used up so it would corroborate to what Father Absalom had told him earlier.

Looking around he went to the edge of the roof that neighbored another building. Using his flashlight he could see that there was a relatively small gap, no less than five feet, between the buildings he'd need to get a running start before trying.

So he navigated his way back making sure there wasn't anything that could trip him when he started running. Satisfied he made sure everything was secure on him before hopping a few times on the balls of his feet.

Then he took off running hard towards the ledge, he couldn't actually see much in front of him relying simply on what he knew should be there. He could practically feel himself getting close to the edge and counted down in his head before leaping.

Panic surged through him as he feared missing his mark and falling to his death below. He was greeted however by the sharp pain of his stomach landing on the ledge of the other building knocking the wind out of him.

He clawed at the roof, scrapping his hands as he fought to gain purchase on the roof. With a grunt he slowly pulled himself fully onto the roof. As his feet cleared the edge he rolled onto his back, his breath coming and going in great huffs.

As his heart beat finally started to slow down he rolled away from the edge then climbed to his feet before pulling out his flashlight again. Pointing it down he turned it on then raised it up to look around on the rooftop.

At first glance it didn't look like there was anything out of ordinary. However as he made his way towards the center of the rooftop he spotted what he was looking for.

Another group of fireworks were set up on a ventilation unit. However there was something different about this set so he got closer and realized that they had yet to be set off.

In the corner of his eye something started to flash repeatedly. Turning in that direction he pointed his flashlight and saw a little black box connected to a couple of car batteries, a yellow light was flashing on the box.

At that moment there was a loud whine followed by a loud bang and crackle in the distance. Green light briefly illuminated the rooftop around Qrow and he blinked at the sudden light source. Blinking a few times he looked back at the black box to see the light had change from yellow to green.

It was at that point that Qrow realized that he made a terrible mistake of coming out here.

"Fuck."

* * *

 **Elsewhere…**

Pyrrha was leaning hard against the wall of the bell tower with her pants undone and her hand stuck down them. She'd been hoping for the chance of something like this ever since that dream as it had ignited an itch that she'd been yearning to itch but was unable to.

Alas it seemed faith as other ideas, as in the distance she could see the bright flash followed by the sound of fireworks going off.

Cursing she buttoned her pants back up then stood as she grabbed her rifle then hefted it to her shoulder to look in the direction to see more fireworks going off.

If she was guessing the direction they were in she couldn't help but feel that the fireworks were going off in a row towards the mountains.

What was concerning her more however was the movement she could see in the church's parking lot. The candles they set down were protected from wind or rain and while they didn't fully illuminate the space she could see the silhouettes that moved passed them.

The Undead were attracted to the noise of the fireworks.

If the fireworks were going off in the direction of the mountains it would also mean that they were in the direction of Mountain Glen. If someone was setting fireworks off that was drawing the undead towards them that means they knew the sound would attract them.

If they knew that and were still setting them off regardless then it could only mean they were doing it on purpose. She slowed her thoughts down; she didn't know if whoever was doing this knew that they might be sending zombies towards one of the only safe havens in Vale.

Maybe they were doing this it hopes of clearing the town out so they could move in and secure it. Even then she didn't believe it as it didn't seem like it would turn out in their favor.

"What the fuck is going on?" Yang asked as her head appeared from the hatch that led back down the tower, Pyrrha glanced at her before looking back down at the parking lot where several of the undead seemed to have stopped despite the fireworks.

"We've got trouble."

* * *

 ***Looks at last post date***

 **"Hmmm..."**

 ***Looks at current date***

 **"Shit..."**

 **Well kiddos, it's been a while and I know you're thinking.**

 **"Hey Oculi, what the fuck? This isn't even a long chapter."**

 **To which I would say, yes, you're obviously observant of that fact. Now aside from just being a lazy buttface, I've been trying to do what I've done with The Lost Son. Those that follow that story know that I've began writing a second document that is essential a outline/story/world building tool for myself to keep tracking of the amount of shit I've done or put into it (Hello longsword/shield techniques, Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, Andrzej Sapkowski, Patrick Rothfuss, WW2, the Cold War, general Fantasy based elements, etc. etc.** **)**

 **Here however I'm gonna be frank in saying I've got nothing along that sort of lines in terms of organization.**

 **Which also means, I don't have a time frame in how I want to tackle the inevitable end let alone get there.**

 **That's something I've got to work on but you my dear readers don't have to worry about that.**

 **Anyways, I'mma end it here.**

 **So go ahead and leave your thoughts, opinions, or reviews about what you think of this Chapter. When I have time I'll see about addressing any thoughts you wanna share with me.**

 **Till Next Time!**


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Pyrrha cursed silently as she watched more and more of the undead coming towards the church. Though the question of whether or not they're coming for them was still on the table. In either case, it seemed their stay in the town was over.

"Shit, what do we do?" Yang asked as she looked over the side next to her.

"Gather our stuff and get out of here." Pyrrha replied.

"Now? I think it would be better if we just hunkered down until they stopped coming then make our move." Yang said but Pyrrha shook her head.

"If we wait too long then they might just end up dwelling around the same area as the pickup."

"You don't know that but besides that instead of risking ourselves going straight towards the direction they're going, we should wait here till they calmed down then head further into town to look for a new ride to use that to get back to Mountain Glenn."

"That actually might not be a bad idea, go find your uncle and the others I'll keep watching up here." Pyrrha said as another firework went off illuminating the sky.

"Actually, Qrow's not here." A new voice spoke up and the two girls looked to see Arslan sticking her head up from the hatch.

"Wait, what do you mean he's not here?" Yang asked and Arslan nodded towards the fireworks.

"He's out there."

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

"Fuck me." Qrow whispered, below him he could hear what could easily have been a hundred or more undead running through the street. The moaning was easily as loud as the fireworks which seemed to be progressively going off further and further away from the town into the mountains.

He needed a way to get off the roof but he was sure that if he tried going back down into the streets below he would just get torn apart. Clicking his tongue he looked around, there were more rooftops to the south; he might be able to find a street where the undead weren't going through.

Jogging up to the edge of the roof he grimaced at little as his flashlight revealed that the gap looked to be just as big if not bigger than the one he barely made before.

"I'm so going to regret this." He said as he made his way back, the fireworks were even farther now to the point that they were well into the mountains. Hopping up and down he took a deep breath before taking off.

As he neared the edge of the roof he leapt forward and realized that he might have made a mistake. He started to panic as he could see that he wasn't even going to be close.

His arm hit something, he yelled both in surprise and pain as whatever he hit gave way to him. The sound of glass shattering was all he could hear before he smashed into something hard, pain flaring all over his body.

"Fuck!" He shouted on the floor before he fished around for his flashlight, he winced as he cut his hand on something sharp before finding his flashlight. Raising it up he could see the lens was cracked and it was flickering a little.

Standing up, he winced and nearly fell over as two particular spots sent a wave of pain throughout his body. Raising his left arm; he could see a piece of glass was sticking out of his forearm. Looking around he found himself in an office of sorts, somehow he managed to miss the edge of the roof only to go through a window.

"Talk about good luck." He whispered then set the flashlight down on the table that he had slammed against coming in through the window; he gritted his teeth as he pulled an inch of glass out of his arm.

"Ffffffffffffffffffffffffffuck." He hissed as he clamped his hand over the spot, he needed to cover it up fast. When he looked down however he could see another piece of glass that looked much larger was sticking out of his left thigh.

Leaning against the desk he took three deep breathes before beginning to pull it out as well. His breathe came in deep gasps as he continued pulling it out and after what felt like forever he pulled the piece out then held it up to his face. This piece was nearly two inches long and nearly an inch wide.

He dropped it as he realized how cold he felt; he needed to cover the two sites. Pulling his backpack off he set it on the table, his hands were starting to shake as he unzipped it then fished for a few seconds to bring out a small blue packet that was supposed to be a medical kit that Ruby had found for him.

Once he had it open he could see what looked to be antibiotic ointment, two gauze packets, a few band aids, a finger splint and some surgical scissors. He spilled the contents on the table then looked around for a chair as he needed to sit down.

He spotted it on the floor; he reached down to set it up right then lowered himself in it. Looking down he reckoned he should do the leg first as he could see the blood flowing freely from it.

Sticking his fingers into his pants he ripped them a little to get a better sight then cursed as he figured he should probably wipe it up as it was covering his leg in his own blood.

It was at that moment that he heard something, looking up he spotted a door and realized there was a high chance that a zombie could have heard him crashing through the window. As he tried to shut out the now distant moaning from outside as he swore he could hear footsteps coming.

Taking a shaky breath he opened the drawers to find something to wipe his leg with, he managed to find a tissue box.

Grabbing a handful he then reached into his bag to take out his water bottle to pour some water on his leg before wiping it down, wincing whenever he got near the cut. By the time he was satisfied the handful of tissues was stained red.

Tossing it aside he grabbed the ointment and unscrewed the cap before squeezing it out onto his leg. Pursing his lips he spread it around on the wound before exchanging the tube for one of the gauze packets.

Opening it with his teeth he took it out then held the folded square gauze firmly on the cut with one hand as he reached for the other gauze to use it to wrap his leg. Once thoroughly covered he took the accompanying pin then clamped it on the gauze.

Sitting back he looked down at his arm, it was a bit difficult to see in the dim light of his flashlight but it didn't look so bad. Looking back at the table he could see he used up both of the gauzes but he still had some band aids. So he set to work applying more ointment before covering it with band aids.

Sighing he stood up, feeling a twitch of pain as he set weight on his leg but it wasn't unbearable. He looked up as the sound of running got closer; he bent down to grab his rifle then brought it to his shoulder.

He aimed at the door and waited for the sound of something crashing against the door. Instead the running sounded as if it went past the door. After a few moments Qrow released a slow breath, he needed to get out of there fast.

Looking behind him he went to the window and was careful not to touch the jagged glass as he looked out. Raising his flashlight he could see that the alley below didn't have any zombies but he could still hear them.

He looked to either side and stopped when he saw on his left side that there was a fire escape about three windows down from him. Nodding to himself he turned back towards the door and rolled his shoulders before walking up to the door.

Pressing his ear against it he held his breath as he listened for movement but he couldn't hear anything. He hoped that whatever that was running around looking for the noise had given up. So he gripped the handle and turned it but it didn't budge.

The door was still locked; he rolled his eyes then unlocked the door then opened it. He let the door swing inward where it thumped softly against a door stop. He let go of the Stag rifle then pulled out his Glock before crossing his forearms in a Harries technique.

Looking left and right he cleared the hallway before heading left. He counted the doors before stopping on the third; he tried the door handle and cursed softly since it was locked as well.

He could only think of one thing that would get him inside. Locating where the handle was he stepped back then kicked with his right leg, there was a jarring impact and the sound of something cracking but the door wasn't open so he kicked away and the door swung inward with a thud.

Without pause he went in flashing his light and gun around for targets before turning to the door. He had doubts that nothing heard that so he needed to block it with something. Looking around he could see that he was in another office.

He closed the door then turned around to see a desk like the one he slammed into before. Knocking the stuff on top to the ground he got around behind it then pushed forward till it was up against the door.

Looking around he spotted a file cabinet and pushed it towards the desk as well. Once that was up against the desk he leaned against the desk, it felt like his lungs were on fire. He supposed falling through a window and slamming against a desk would tire a person out.

At that moment something smashed against the door which creaked loudly. He swore loudly, the door wasn't going to hold long so he ran towards the only window then fumbled for the lock before pushing it upwards.

Leaning his head out Qrow could see the metal of the fire escape. There was a loud crack behind him and he turned out to see that that there was a woman with the skin missing from the lower half of her face. She apparently had knocked the already weakened door off its top hinge and now was trying to claw her way over it to him.

He didn't even spare her a second glance; he didn't have time to try killing her as he had no idea if there were more behind her. Nor could he afford to use a bullet on her as that would definitely draw more of them to him.

Once he was out of the window he had to quickly think about trying to go back up to the roof or just heading ground level. Both had their cons, if he went to the roof he doubt he'd be able to get back down safely in his condition but if he went street level then the chance of getting run down then eaten was very likely.

Yet he needed to get back to the church and the best way to do that would be heading street side again. In the room he could hear the shifting of furniture, the time for a decision was now.

So he headed down the fire escape, he didn't know if his age was catching up to him or his body was just too beaten up as sweat poured down his face as he made his way down to the last platform.

Once on the ground, he kept his light low as he looked around, he needed to get out into the street to get his orientation again. So he crept forward, when he got close to the street he turned off his flashlight tucking it along with his handgun away.

He could hear movement nearby but he wasn't sure if it was coming to or away from him. Moving slowly forward he could barely see anything in the dark which would make find the church difficult to find but he couldn't use his flashlight until he was sure it wouldn't get him killed.

It was at that point that he heard a crack in the distance followed by several more cracks. His blood froze at the sound; there was only one place that was coming from.

"Shit."

* * *

 **Earlier…**

"They're not leaving." Sun noted as he could see more than a dozen shaping moving in the soft candle light of the parking lot.

"I'll start packing our stuff." Pyrrha said as she began to climb back down.

"Let me help." Arslan said but Yang grabbed her arm.

"Wait, no, you need to back up and explain what you just said."

"Qrow's out there." She said simply.

"But why?" Yang asked, her voice rising, Arslan shrugged her hand off.

"Look, he said that he needed to go figure out what Father Absalom told him earlier so he told me that he'd go and check it out."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Yang demanded, Sun traded looks with Arslan they could tell that Yang was getting angry.

"Yang, I'm sure Qrow had a good reason, let's just get ready for when he comes back." Sun said as Yang ran a hand through her hair.

"Yea, fine but if he doesn't come back, this is on you." Yang said glaring at Arslan.

"Fuck off Yang." Arslan snapped back.

"Don't blame me just because your uncle doesn't trust you." Yang faced the girl with her fists clenched but Sun got between them.

"That's enough, we don't have time for your bullshit, there's a shit ton of zombie outside that want to rip us apart. I for one would rather get back to the city alive and not as a corpse."

"Fine." Yang said as she went back down the ladder, Arslan simply turned away to continue looking back out at the parking lot just in time to see several of them running towards the front door.

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

Pyrrha was going over the group's belongings as Father Absalom knelt in front of the crucifix praying out loud. She was never much of a religious person, sure she believed in god but she didn't go to church or anything like that.

Now though when she thought about what she had seen of the world outside these walls, she'd found it both harder and easier to believe in that stuff. As she couldn't think of what else besides Hell would allow soulless creatures to rise from among the dead in order to hunt the still living.

"So, uh, Father, are you coming with us?" Pyrrha asked looking at the old man.

"Do not worry for me child, I am where I need to be."

"You do realize that if the zombies do come in here with force we won't be able to defend this place."

"No man is meant to live forever; such things are reserved for God, his Angels and those that dwell within the Kingdom of Heaven."

"Sure but I rather live for as long as I can." Pyrrha said really unsure of how she was supposed to respond to that.

"Do not fear what is natural as the sun or the wind young one."

"Isn't fear just as natural? The fear of pain or death helps keep people alive."

"True but there's a point in which one must realize that struggling forever isn't the answer sometimes letting go is the only solution."

"That sounds a little pessimistic."

"It's in fact acceptance, I know what awaits me but I do not fear it as I know that is what I deserve."

"What about those that don't deserve it." The old man looked at her, a sad smile on his face.

"There is no such thing as innocence, only degrees of guilt." It was at that moment that something started pounding against the door. Pyrrha squeaked as she jumped back, fumbling to get a good grip on her rifle.

"Pyrrha! Pyrrha! Can you hear me!?" Sun's voice called out from her bag, it was her radio. She knelt down and opened it up before digging through it to grab it.

"I'm here Sun!"

"They know we're here!"

"I know just get down here before they break in; we have to defend the church."

"Come up here, we can funnel them in."

"No! If we lose control down here then we'll just be stuck in the tower."

"Damn it girl! Stop saying stuff that makes sense!" Yang's voice came over the radio.

"Shut up and get down here." Pyrrha snapped back as the pounding at the doors grew louder. She turned to the pews then looked at the priest but he was still kneeling. She sighed loudly then slung her rifle as she began to drag one of the pews towards the front door.

By the time she managed to get the pew up against the door, Yang, Sun and Arslan were down from the tower.

"What are you doing?" Arslan asked.

"What does it look like?" She replied as she began dragging a second pew over, the three of them ran over and with the four of them they began just lifting the pews into a pile in front of the door. Soon they managed to get almost a dozen pews into a pile.

"Think that will hold?" Yang asked as the four of them sat down, Pyrrha was about to respond when the sound of something breaking could be heard from the back of the church.

Pyrrha didn't even say anything as she jumped up with her rifle in hand before heading towards the back area. Going through the door of the small kitchen she wasn't surprised to see the jawless face of a man trying to climb through the window, there was at least two more behind him trying to get through the window as well.

She did the only thing she could think of and fired.

* * *

 **Elsewhere…**

Jaune watched from the roof as a crowd of people overturned a car in the middle of the road, a handful of them even climbed up on it and one of them began to make some weird speech.

From the gist of it, it sounded like they were blaming the auxiliary groups as complacent in whatever government conspiracy they thought was going on.

"They still out there?" Weiss's voice asked from behind him.

"Yea, though I don't think they're agitated enough to come for us." Jaune said as he watched the guy giving the speech pointing towards their building.

"You think they'll attack us?"

"I'm not sure, I think the guy is trying to egg them on but most of them look sort of confused."

"So we won't have to defend ourselves?" She asked but Jaune shook his head.

"I didn't say that, I just don't think they'll attack for now. If this rioting lasts any longer than they might attack if not that I'd say that a smaller group might try." Jaune said looking back at Weiss as Ren and Ruby came out onto the roof.

"We boarded up all the windows from the ground up to the third floor." Ren said as he stood next to Jaune to look down at the street.

"He's really getting worked up isn't he?" Ruby noted to which Jaune had to agree as they could hear him yelling fairly well from the rooftop.

"I don't know what I hate more, people taking advantage of this terrifying time or those that are trying to blame others of the cause of it." Weiss said after they stood there silently for a few moments.

"Well there's not much we can do but stay the course." Jaune said.

"Speaking of which, I've got a question, it's been sort of on my mind for a while now." Ren started and Jaune looked at him. It was a little difficult to see his friend's face in the night with only streetlights along with a few distant fires to illuminate him. Yet Jaune could tell something was bothering him.

"What is it?"

"Do you think we should have a bug out plan?" Ren asked.

"A bug out plan?" Weiss asked.

"He means having a plan to use in case we need to get out of the city fast." Ruby clarified.

"What makes you think that would be necessary?" Jaune asked as he sat down on the edge of the roof.

"I mean, I was always thinking about what we would have to do if the city fell to the zombies but I never really took that idea seriously, well until now that is." He said gesturing back down to the street where they could see the rioters turning over another car. However there was something off, they were turning over cars at either ends of the street.

"Something's up." Jaune said as he stood up again, the other looked to where he pointed.

"Are they…blocking the streets?" Weiss asked as they watched more and more people pile into the street. The man that had been making the speech earlier was now gesturing or guiding people with an aluminum bat.

"Ren, get Nora, Bolin, Nadir armed and meet me downstairs. Ruby I want you to go get your rifle and come up here. Weiss grab my sister; Blake, Penny and Reese then bring them up here as well." Jaune said as he reached down to grip the handle of his Glock. Heading down the roof access, as Weiss and Ruby broke away Ren finally spoke up.

"What's the plan?"

"Oh right, a plan."

"Jaune."

"Look I'm just gonna head out there but I want you and the others acting as backup in case I can't dissuade them from doing anything reckless."

"That seems like that would backfire very quickly." Ren said as they stopped on the second floor and Jaune simply shrugged.

"I know that but I honestly don't know what exactly I could do to stop a potential storm of rioters from trying to break in and loot us or whatever." Ren opened and closed his mouth a few times.

"I guess you have a point there." Jaune just laughed softly as he began to go down the stairs.

"Just get the others ready for my signal!"

"What's the signal?"

"It's simple, if they try to kill me then back me up." He called back and realized that it probably wasn't the best signal but he really didn't know what to do. Nor did he understand why he thought he could actually dissuade of group of angry looking people from storming the building.

As Jaune reached the bottom floor, he went into one of the side rooms. They had boarded up all the windows on the first, second and third floor but some of them had gaps to look through.

A number of people were arrayed in front of the apartment; most of them were holding rocks, bottles, sticks, bats, metal pipes and even mining tools. Some of the more extreme looking people however were holding pieces of wood like shields.

"So are you really planning on going out there?" Bolin's voice asked from behind.

"Yea, I don't think you should go out there, holding up in here seems like the smart idea." Nadir said but it was obvious that he was nervous by how his voice trembled.

"It's not the smarter idea but neither is it dumber than what I am about to do. So just, watch my back will you." Jaune said as he rolled his shoulders before grabbing the door handle but Nora grabbed his arm.

"Jaune, please don't do anything stupid. Pyrrha might kill us if you get hurt again." The shorter girl said and Jaune simply smiled back.

"Come on Nora, what's the worst that can happen?"

* * *

 **Elsewhere…**

Pyrrha felt the incredible urge to sigh as she put down a third zombie; the kitchen was completely lost at that point. The window boards were completely gone and the back door was shattered by the running weight of the undead.

However the small table along with the dead bodies on the floor slowed the zombies down that they couldn't swarm her. Arslan was also behind her ready to take over in a pinch as Yang and Sun held the main hall.

"Fuck, how many more of these assholes are there?" Arslan hissed from behind as Pyrrha switched out with her.

"I don't know but we need to hold them of as long as we can." Pyrrha said as she pulled the empty magazine out of the Model 10 before exchanging it with a new one. Counting that she only had five left which seemed like a decent amount but they held only a third of what would be in the Model 3 rifles.

Ruby had explained to her that the Model 10 used a more powerful round than the Model 3 but it still took at least two or three shots just to put one down for good.

That wasn't even taking into account where she hit, a head shot would put any of them down but they can soak body shots pretty well. Arslan fired thrice, the first catching a mauled man in the chest sending him back while the second blast took off the arm of a fat woman before the third one shattered the left side of her head.

"Hey Pyrrha!" Yang called out from behind them, Pyrrha looked to see Yang holding her Shockwave shotgun.

"Something a matter?" Pyrrha asked turning to her.

"No I was wondering if we should take one of the pews and break it down so it can fit in front of that door." Pyrrha waited as Arslan fired off a few more rounds then stood back so she could take the spot.

"How would we do that?" She asked as she raised her rifle, three more of the zombies were coming in now. She fired once taking a young girl in the head killing her before switching over to put three rounds into a lanky shirtless man whose guts where hanging out. The last one coming through stumbled over the corpses that were piling on the floor and fell face down to which Pyrrha quickly put three rounds into its back.

"I don't know I was thinking maybe breaking it with a few blasts of the shotgun." Yang said but Arslan clicked her tongue.

"Yea, I'm not sure if we should do that. We'll need every round of ammunition we have just to keep the zombies at bay."

"I don't know it looks like you're handling it just fine." Yang said.

"That's because we have them in a good chokepoint but if they breach anywhere else then we'll have a problem." Pyrrha said before firing two more times at an old man, the room was thick now with bodies thus making it difficult for others to come at them without falling.

Pyrrha was completely glad for that as she fired at another pair of zombies. She killed one but she couldn't kill the other one as her magazine was empty but it tripped over a corpse falling down and struggled to get up.

"Switch!" She said as she moved back letting Arslan take the spot, she fired hitting the zombie in the chest as it finally got back to its feet sending it flying backwards to slam the back of its head against the kitchen counter.

As Pyrrha exchanged magazines, there was a loud crash from behind her. She jumped up to see Yang running back to the main hall.

"Stay here!" She said before going after Yang, when she entered the main area she could see that one of the shutters for the tall stain glass windows was being pushing inward. Sun however was pushing against it trying to keep it closed.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" The blond hair teen was screaming as Yang came over to help him keep it closed. Father Absalom however seemed to finally be done praying as he stood on the other side of one of the pews that they had yet to use. He knelt down and grabbed it from the bottom before lifting it up.

"Would you kindly help me?" He said evenly at Pyrrha, she rushed forward and the two of them raised the pew to stand on its side.

"Yang!" Pyrrha shouted as the pew began to tip towards them, the blonde girl let go of the shutters leaving Sun to struggle in keeping it closed as the three of them lowered the pew right above Sun. He moved aside as the pew came down to rest against the shutter.

The four of them watched with obvious concern as the shutter and pew jumped a little from the undead as they beat against it.

"We're running out of time." Sun said as he picked up his Stag rifle.

"He's right we need to figure a way out of here." Pyrrha said looking at them.

"The front door and kitchen doors are out of the question, we might be able to use a window but we'd have to get them all on one side while we head out the opposite end but we don't know how many there are out there." The red head looked towards the priest.

"Is there any other way to get out of here?" She asked and he nodded before gesturing for them to follow him. Pyrrha followed Father Absalom as he led them to a small door on the far right side. Inside was a small hallway with three doors, one on the left, one to the right and one straight ahead of them. He stopped and turned towards them before pulling out a set of brass keys.

"The door on the left leads into the basement; there you may find another exit that leads outside of the church." He said.

"Okay but that doesn't mean that there might not be any of them hanging near it." Sun pointed out.

"True but the basement entrance isn't located next to the church, it's in fact located near the graveyard which is at least four or five hundred feet away from here. I'll be staying here so there won't be any need for them to lose interest here and wander near the graveyard."

"Well that's cheerful; in order to escape the undead we need to go underground near a graveyard." Yang said.

"I'm pretty sure that's the opposite of cheerful but I guess in retrospect I rather be surrounded by coffins with skeletons than the walking dead." Pyrrha said and she could feel Yang glaring at her from behind.

"Guys! What's the hold up?!" Arslan screamed and they turned to head back out. Pyrrha jogged over to see Arslan holding her handgun, as she didn't have the time to reload her shotgun. Arslan moved aside as Pyrrha took her spot with her rifle raised, there was several more bodies on the floor however the zombies were pressing them harder now.

She lined her rifle up and fired three times taking a woman in the chest before switching to another woman. Pyrrha put a round in her head but backed up a few steps as the woman fell forward a small teenage boy came next with two men shortly behind him.

"Get ready!" She called out as she emptied her magazine into the trio. The boy fell down but the two others were stilling coming at her though she could see them struggling to move forward as they stumbled over the two body high pile of corpses.

Arslan tapped her arm and they switched. She pumped two shells into the first one sending him backwards onto the pile before putting a third shell into the head of the other man.

"What happened out there?" Arslan asked before firing another shell at a woman that appeared in the doorway. Some of the pellets nicked the doorframe but most of them hit the woman squarely in the chest sending her out of sight.

"They tried getting in through one of the windows and Father Absalom has a way out for us."

"A way out?" Arslan asked after firing again but missed as the zombie tripped over some of the bodies. The dark skinned girl stood up and fired again hitting the zombie in the top of its head. The twelve gauge shell shattered the skull sending a cloud of gore into the air to splatter the other bodies.

"When should we leave? I'm running low on shells already." Arslan asked as she took the time to slide more shells into her shotgun.

"I don't know, the way out the Father gave us lets us out by the graveyard but I rather not go out there in the open in the middle of the night with zombies probably all around us." Pyrrha said as Arslan fired two more shells.

"You think we can hotwire a car or maybe the Father still had those car keys from the people that came here before us. We can use those cars to get out of here." Arslan said and Pyrrha had to agree that sounded like a good idea.

"We can't leave until Qrow comes back." Yang said from behind them.

"But we don't even know if he's still out there, maybe he got swarmed by zombies." Arslan pointed out and Pyrrha couldn't help but feel that wasn't the right thing to say.

"Hey, fuck off." Yang said before looking at Pyrrha.

"Do you agree with this bitch?" Yang asked and Pyrrha raised a hand.

"Come on Yang, don't be like that."

"Don't be like what? I'm not going to just stand here and listen to this ugly bitch telling me my uncle is dead." Yang said and Arslan stood up but Pyrrha stepped between them.

"Alright that's enough, both of you are out of line right now and if the zombies weren't trying to kill us I would knock you both out but I can't so you either apologize or walk away from this." Pyrrha said slinging her rifle to put a hand on both of their chests stopping them.

"Fine, you're lucky she's here to save you." Yang said before spitting to the side.

"Yea whatever, you dumb blond bimbo." Arslan said before turning back to watch the kitchen. The zombies didn't seem to be coming at them as much.

"Think we should use this time to block this door?" Pyrrha asked and Arslan merely shrugged.

"Fine, stay here, I'mma go talk with Sun about blocking this door." Pyrrha said leaving the sullen dark skinned girl to guard the kitchen.

Out in the main hall Pyrrha could see Sun and Yang navigating the last of the pews to be braced against the last shutter. There were only so many pews so they had to take some from the front door to block the shutter as such only six pews were left to block the front door.

"Hey Sun!" She called out walking up to the pair of teens.

"What's up?"

"I need your help getting one of those pews back to the kitchen; I want to block the door with it so Arslan and I don't have to spend anymore ammo killing zombies." Pyrrha said pointed towards the door and Sun nodded.

"Right let's get going then." The two of them went over to the front door. As Arslan watched over the kitchen she counted her ammo, finding that she only had about a dozen shells left; she might be able to get some off Yang or more likely the old man.

The kitchen looked like a nightmare come true, more than two dozen bodies were piled around it. The collective blood soaked their clothes or pooling out from underneath them on the tiled floor.

Arslan couldn't help but notice that the blood looked a little off; if she had to compare it to something it looked a lot like strawberry jam that had been heated up to a point that it was a runny.

When she looked up however she was startled when a flurry of bodies threw themselves at the kitchen from the outside. As she raised her shotgun she could see three pairs of arms clawing from the window as they tried climbing through it along with zombie after zombie coming through the back door.

"Hurry up!" She shouted as fired then racked the slide before firing again and again. The first shell took the lead zombie in the chest as it tried to climb over the bodies. The second shell was a little to the right mauling the left shoulder of the zombie that it looked like it was barely hanging onto its torso.

The third shell however hit it in the stomach and a puff of blood shot out as the zombie fell forward. The fourth and fifth shells each killed a zombie. The last shell took the face off another zombie but more of them were still coming so she dropped her shotgun in order to pull out the handgun that she had taken before they left, a Berretta 92FS.

She fired twice and missed both shots fear stabbed at her as Arslan pulled the trigger four more times. These rounds at least connected, one went high hitting the lead zombie's shoulder while two struck it in the chest with the fourth hitting the throat.

As it went down she continued firing at the zombies, but she didn't know how big the magazine was nor did she think that she'd be able to hold them off.

"Move!" Sun's voice called and she jumped to the side as he began to fire. In close confines his rifle was just as loud if not louder than hers; the concussive sound of automatic fire indoors sent brief vibrating pain into her ears.

"Arslan get out of there!" Pyrrha shouted from behind Sun, she turned to see Pyrrha and Yang behind a pew that they were pushing up behind Sun. Arslan wanted to go and grab her shotgun but Sun was in the way so she opted to just quickly get over the pew to get out of the way.

Sun could feel his body perspire as he fired another burst into a zombie. The three rounds each sent a relatively tiny puff of dark blood into the air.

"Sun!" Yang called out and he glanced over his shoulder. The pew was in position to block the door, so he emptied the rest of his magazine into another zombie then grabbed the door then slammed it shut.

Though as he closed the door, he could feel slight resistance, he had to assume it was either a body that landed to close or a zombie trying to force it open. The moment the door was in place he twisted the lock on the doorknob then turned to climb over the pew as Yang and Pyrrha moved aside for him.

Once he was over, the two girls pushed the pew as hard as they could up against the door. The sound of fists beating it could be heard as they backed away.

"We've got a problem!" Arslan called out from behind them, the three of them went back out into the main hall. There they could see Father Absalom holding his double barrel shotgun and Arslan was exchanging magazines in her handgun.

Every pew that was barricading the shutter was jumping under the impacts of what they could only assume were zombies outside. Even the front door was being pounded on as they stood there.

"These won't hold forever." Yang said as she held her Shockwave with both hands. The five of them stood in a circle facing the various windows. To Pyrrha it felt as if the air within the church was warm and suffocating as they watched the pews shifting under the weight of the undead outside.

"Yang!? Pyrrha!? Anyone there?" Qrow's voice interrupted them however, and Pyrrha yelped as she turned to look for the voice.

"The radio!" Sun hissed pointed at their bags which were piled together by their feet. Yang ran over then fished through the bags for a radio and pulled her own out.

"Uncle Qrow, where are you?"

"I'm not that far out but there's so many zombies and abandoned cars that it's making it difficult to go straight there. What's the situation at the church, I keep hearing gunshots."

"Zombies are storming the place and we're about ready to bail out of here. The Father has a basement passage that leads to the nearby graveyard. We're planning to use that to get out of here; can you meet us near there?"

"I can and I'll let you know when I'm near there. Can you hold out till then?" Yang looked at them.

"We can try but please hurry up." She said just as one of the pews holding a shutter fell to the ground. Pyrrha who was the closest knelt down as she aimed with her rifle, the candles around the window had gone out but she could still see arms flailing through the broken stained glass window.

She fired twice, the first shot missed, taking a chunk out of the wall while the second struck the arm itself. The arm seem to bend in a weird way but it still continued to wave around as whoever it was attached to came crawling through the window.

As the body hit the floor Sun fired a quick three round burst the stitched a bloody path across the fallen body. Pyrrha moved to the left as Sun pressed forward, she fired two more times after he fired another burst.

It almost looked like they could hold them off when another pew, the furthest to their left, fell over. This time Father Absalom reacted, moving slowly forward firing one then two shots before pulling out the spent shells and replacing them in an almost casual motion.

"Ms. Nikos, catch." The Father said turning to her and throwing the ring of keys at her. She fumbled a little as she caught it.

"The time has come, lead your friends out of here." He said before firing both barrels again. The successive shotgun blasts took chunks out of another zombie that was climbing through the window.

More pews started to fall and more windows were broken open. Pyrrha felt her heart hammering and sweating soaking her clothes as she fired randomly at them. Sun, Yang, and Arslan were also firing their weapons. The collective noise was starting to hurt her ears as they fought them off.

However by this point almost all of the candles illuminating the room had gone out save for those near the crucifix.

"We need to get out of here!" Arslan screamed and Pyrrha had to agree with her. She glanced over at Yang who caught her eye.

"Grab the stuff and let's go!" Pyrrha shouted as she ran towards the doorway that led to the hallway with the basement door. Yang wasn't far behind her followed by Sun and Arslan.

"What about Father Absalom?" Yang called out as Pyrrha stopped in front of the basement door where she inserted it into the door then pushed it open.

Pyrrha didn't answer her as they could hear him screaming, but it wasn't a wordless scream, he was yelling what seemed to be quotes from the Bible at the top of his lungs. It didn't last long however as the screaming soon turned into cries of pain then nothing.

"They're coming!" Arslan yelled as she began to fire the way they came. Though unlike the kitchen there wasn't anything save for the door itself to slow them down. Pyrrha stepped to the side allowing Yang to go through the door first.

"Sun! Arslan! Hurry up!" Pyrrha screamed back and Arslan switched with Sun as he emptied an entire magazine at the doorway before stepped through the doorway. Pyrrha followed suit empting her own rifle at the mass of zombies.

She could feel herself shaking in terror as they came step by step closer as the bolt clicked dry she went through the door, slamming it shut behind her before using the key to lock it again.

Not even a second later the hard impacts could be heard as the zombies beat against the door. Arslan had turned on a flashlight and they could see the door jumped violently under the impacts.

"Okay let's find this exit." Pyrrha said as she joined them below but she could see that they looked distraught at leaving the elderly man behind. None of them made the move to start looking around, she frowned.

"Guys?" Pyrrha asked.

"Just give us a second Pyrrha, we just let someone die." Yang said.

"No, someone died so we could live. He didn't have to stay behind, now stop wasting time and let's go." She said as she glanced back up at the door, the hinges were starting wobble a little.

"Seriously guys, now is not the time for this shit, I don't want to die so fucking move." Pyrrha snapped but walked away from them to investigate the basement. The basement seemed to have rows of books, Christmas decorations, bake sale signs, and a relatively small pile of canned food.

After what seemed like forever she found a door, she could only assume that it was what she was looking for so she tried to open it but it was locked. Taking out the key the Father gave her, she found that it fit in the door's lock.

Opening it she could see that there was a long, dark hallway but she could feel a small breeze. She had found the way out.

"Guys! Over here!" She shouted, the only reply she got was grumbling as they walked to her.

"Let's go." She said raising her rifle, now Yang, Sun had their flashlights out as well along with Arslan as they walked into the corridor.

"Yang? Are you there?" Qrow's voice came suddenly over the radio making them jump.

"We're here Uncle Qrow, where are you?" Yang asked.

"I'm about a minutes out, get ready to come to me." Qrow said and Pyrrha felt a wave of elation. Though it didn't last long as at that moment they heard the sound of wood splintering and the sound of feet running down the steps.

"Run!" Arslan screamed as she spun around, shining her flashlight back at the door they had just come through. She hadn't closed it behind her and she was too far away to go close it. It wasn't long before the first face of a zombie appeared in her vision. She fired twice and the others behind her started to run.

"Hurry up! We're running out of time!" Yang screamed into the walkie talkie before tucking it away. There was another set of stairs nearby with a metal hatch above it and she could only assume it was their way out.

"Get it open Pyrrha!" Sun yelled as he dropped his flashlight then he turned to fire but Arslan was in his way.

"Arslan get down!" He screamed and she dropped in a crouch. Sun fired, some of his shots went wide but most of them found their mark. However in the tight corridor, the bullets mostly hit the first two zombies but they kept the others behind them safe.

"It's open! Come on!" Pyrrha shouted behind them as she pushed the hatch open to get outside. The smell of blood and decay was heavy in the air. She turned around looking for any zombies and looked at the direction the church was but it was difficult to tell without a flashlight as she didn't have time to take one out.

Yang stood with one foot out of the hatch as she looked back down. Sun was slowly backing up as he fired but Arslan seemed to be stuck, as she had yet to start moving back towards them. The zombies weren't far from her.

"You gotta get out of there!" Yang yelled and she could hear Pyrrha hiss in annoyance but she ignored her. If being quiet was important then shooting guns had already given them away. Sun was next to her, he had dropped his flashlight in order to operate his weapon with both hands.

"Come on Arslan!" Sun shouted as well, Pyrrha began to shoot behind them and Yang panned her light around to see a few zombies coming at them from the direction of the church.

"Damn it! Someone get her out of there." Pyrrha said as she fired a few rounds at what she assumed were zombies coming towards them.

In the distance, a car horn honked. Yang felt relief flood her briefly as a pair of headlights appeared to their right.

"Arslan! Qrow's here, let's move!" Sun shouted and Arslan finally stood up only to kick a zombie back as it lunged at her. Yang felt what relief she had wash away as she realized what she was looking at.

As Arslan tried to back away she stepped on the flashlight that Sun had dropped, the girl yelped in surprise as she slipped back. Fear rammed her heart and she voided her bowels as she fell on her back. In less than a second her vision was filled with the faces of the dead.

Pain erupted from her leg and she realized that a zombie had bitten her. Another one reached down at her and she tried to shoot it in the face but it grabbed her hand. She screamed in pain as it bit down on her fingers, her scream rose as it ripped two of her fingers off.

"Stop! Stop! Stop!" She started to scream in panic, she was vaguely aware of shooting but it didn't matter they were all over her. As she tried to pry the zombie off her right hand with her left arm a zombie reached in and bit her forearm before pulling away.

The pain was mind-numbing as it pulled back and she could feel her skin being ripped off her arm. The last thing she was aware of before blacking out from the pain was something dull but painful clamping down on her left cheek.

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

Jaune stepped out of the apartment building. He could smell smoke in the air along with the overwhelming sense of anger which thankfully didn't seem to be entirely directed at him.

However he could see people stopping to look at him, a few people looked a little nervous some of them even backing away. Yet there were more than a few that eyed him with suspicion or even contempt.

"I would ask you all to cease this destructive behavior!" He called out, gathering most of their attention now as people began to crowd around him. His throat felt as dry as sandpaper while sweat pricked his skin but he knew he needed to at least sound calm.

"Who are you to order us around?" Someone called out and the people murmured their agreement.

"I'm just a fellow citizen and human that wants us all to be at peace with each other. We have enough problems as it is that we don't need to be attacking each other or destroying valuable items or materials." Jaune called out.

"Then why are you in that building?" A voice called out.

"Because I live here, why else would I be here?" Jaune replied.

"The people who live in there are fascists that support the Government, so if you live in there you must be a fascist!" A deep voice bellowed.

"I'm not a fascist, I simply want to protect those that I can which means accepting the offer to help the Army clear out or fight the undead."

"You mean helping cover up their mess?! That's all those bastards are doing, playing god and causing the end of the world!"

"Where the hell is that coming from? Do hear yourselves? Do you really think anyone is capable of making people come back from the dead?"

"They're not dead! They just need help, this country has always hated the mentally ill but this is straight up murder!" A woman said near him and Jaune wasn't sure if they were just fucking with him.

"Have you seen what those, mentally ill, people have done? Ripping and eating people apart? That's not a mentally ill person, that's a monster."

"Of course the fascist would label people monster to justify killing them." A thin looking man dressed in black jeans and hoodie called out before spitting on the steps.

"Fine then, instead of taking your anger out on the people residing in this city why don't you go out there and rehabilitate those, people, you call mentally ill. Show us that have doubts in what you say is true by putting your money where your mouth is."

"What? So you can simply lock us out then kill us under the pretense that we're so called monsters?"

"Words mean nothing to me; you want to prove us wrong then show us by giving results not by burning cars and looting other people."

"We're not looting! We're protesting peacefully against the injustices that are being done to us!" The thin man shouted back at him.

"That's not what I've seen, hell you over turned a bunch of cars right here on the street how's that not a sign of unwarranted violence."

"Holding materials above the betterment of your fellow people is obviously what a capitalist supporting fascist would say." Jaune rubbed one eye in annoyance.

"Do you even know what you're saying anymore? Because honestly I don't think you understand what you're saying but merely quoting some hipster philosophical book you read at some point in your life." Jaune said, he could feel his annoyance rising and it worried him. If he couldn't afford to lose his cool as there would be no way he could keep violence from happening.

"Why? Are my words too intelligent for you to understand?"

"No, I simply don't speak your faux convoluted virtue signaling." The man seemed to bristle at that and other around him seemed to be talking amongst each other. It seems a calm voice speaking counter to the man's hot rhetoric was making people hesitate. Jaune could see that the man knew he was losing the attention of the mob.

"Why are you fighting against us then? You have weapons you can help us get justice against those that caused this or are you fine with being a pawn as long as you have special rights and a roof over your head."

"We're not pawns, we do this by choice and even then we're far from being safe. In fact I'm more likely to die then you are as I'll be sent to help reclaim territory while you stand there complaining at being kept alive merely because you think your moral superiority puts your above those that have to fight."

"You wouldn't have to fight if they didn't start this mess." The man replied and Jaune sighed.

"Okay, a show of hands if you're not from Mountain Glen or the surrounding cities and towns." Jaune called out and he wasn't surprised to see that most of the people raised their hands. He pointed to a middle age man with a bandaged right hand.

"You sir, where are you from?" Everyone around him turned to look at him and the man seemed to squirm under their eyes.

"I'm from Vale." He said.

"Speak up my man." Jaune asked and the man looked at the ground with wide eyes.

"I'm from Vale!" Jaune nodded.

"And good sir, tell me, what was Vale like before you got here?" He was silent for a moment then spoke up.

"It was a nightmare." Jaune nodded sympathetically.

"And who did you see standing between you and death in this nightmare?"

"The police."

"How many others here know of what this man talks about? You've seen people rise up from injuries that should have killed them only to see them chase down and kill others indiscriminately. So how can you truly believe this man when he says that they're simply mentally ill? Do the mentally ill eat the faces of those that they called friends or family? Do the mentally ill charge regardless of their injuries into a line of riot police before eating said police? How can you all trust a man that lies to you saying that none of the pain you experience happened that it wasn't their fault but instead the people who are risking their lives to save you every day? Can you stand here with the threat of violence against regular people like yourselves that simply want to help out even if it means risking their lives? Who are the real monsters? Some man who gives a beautiful yet comforting lie or those telling a harsh but honest truth?" Jaune could see some people in the far back walking away from the group now. The man that had been arguing with him seemed to be trembling then reached behind him to only pull out a knife. The people closest to him back away as he spun on them.

"Don't let him fool you!" He turned towards Jaune again but he just sighed.

"I suggest you put that away before you get hurt."

"The only one here that's going to feel pain is you fascist." He said as he moved up the steps but Jaune simply pulled out his Glock. Even in the low light of the city at night people could see that he had a gun in hand.

"I'm armed and will defend myself accordingly." Jaune warned and the man hesitated.

"I've put up with your attitude so far but you've crossed a line but there's a second line and I assure you the moment you cross it you won't live to regret it." Jaune said before turning on his handgun's flashlight mount.

"The same goes for everyone else here! There will be no looting or rioting on this street if we see you committing any illegal acts we will respond with lethal force. Now disperse!" Jaune yelled and he could see the collective mass of the group break away. However there was still a few that seemed to be barely holding their ground but as the light from his gun passed over them they'd all cringe back.

"Disperse!" Jaune shouted but it seemed like that wasn't the right idea as more of them look to steel themselves at his command. He felt the urge to pull the trigger starting to build up within him.

"You heard him! Get out of here!" A voice yelled out from behind him, looking over his shoulder he could see Nora and Ren standing behind him with handguns as well. This finally broke the resolve for those that remained though Jaune could see two people of note.

One was the man that he had seen giving the speech on the overturned car. He hadn't come forward during the confrontation but seemed to be just watching Jaune. The second person however was someone he had hoped he wouldn't see so soon.

"Neptune?" Ren muttered aloud as the dirty blue hair teen walked up to them.

"Is Weiss here?" His voice croaked.

"What does it matter to you?" Nora asked and the three teens could see the flash of anger on his face before it disappeared.

"I just want to talk with her." He said.

"No, I have enough trouble on my plate as it is I don't need you harassing Weiss at this moment." Jaune said.

"I know, I know but please I just need to see her even if it's one last time." Neptune pleaded but Jaune wasn't sure what to do. After their fight he didn't exactly trust the guy but turning him away might cause problems later down the line. Though what sort of problems he wasn't sure so Jaune looked at Ren and Nora then nodded towards the front door.

The three of them backed away from Neptune then gathered in a huddle in front of the door and out of his hearing.

"What do you guys think? We should let him see Weiss?" Jaune asked.

"No, there's no point in dragging this along. She wanted him out after what he did so there shouldn't be any discussion." Ren said and Nora looked at him surprised.

"How can you say that Ren? Neptune's a teenager just like us and we all can be a little irrational at times but I think he's being genuine. Besides that I think the choice ultimately falls down to Weiss herself." Nora argued and Jaune reluctantly nodded.

"Fair enough, we'll let them talk but Nora you'll accompany them in case Neptune does do something stupid."

"Sounds fine to me." The shorter girl said and the three of them looked at Neptune. The blue hair teen looked to be in total despair.

"You can go in Neptune but I'll be escorting you so if Weiss refuses to talk to you or if you do anything stupid then I'm breaking your legs." Nora said and he nodded.

"I understand." After the two of them went inside Jaune sat on the steps feeling completely exhausted.

"I can't believe I talked them out of doing anything to us." He said even with the smell of smoke in the air, the night was cool and relaxing which only made him realize how fast his heart was beating. He could see the stars overhead even with some of the street lights still working and fires raging in the distance.

Jaune could feel himself losing himself in watching the night sky though a passing helicopter shattered that image. He sat up to see Ren sitting next to him.

"Well I think pulling your handgun out kind of dissuade them more than your words, were you really going to shoot them?" Ren said without looking at him, the stoic teen was looking out at the street where the overturned car still lay in the middle of the street.

"No, my Glock isn't even loaded. I cleared it before coming out here." He said much to Ren's relief but the more he thought it about, the more he felt a little uneasy with himself about it.

He wasn't sure why, he only drew his gun and aimed it at the crowd. Which seemed like it was the right idea but from how Ren sounded it made him think that his friend thought it was in fact the wrong idea.

As he looked up at the night sky again he leaned back onto the ground. He could feel the edge of the top step digging a little into his back while the cool concrete sent tingles from the back of his head down his spine. A wave of fatigue settled over him, his mind felt addled and his body wanted nothing more than to sleep.

"Jaune?" Ren asked but he didn't look at him.

"I'm just tired Ren."

"You okay?"

"I guess I'm just tired of this Ren, I just, don't know anymore."

"Maybe you should turn in for the night Jaune."

"A body can be broken more than once Ren, I can fracture every bone in my body and most likely come back fine given time. Yet a mind broken will remain broken as the scars and wounds inflicted upon it will never fade no matter how much time passes." Jaune whispered he didn't know what was coming over him but he was aware that his fatalistic mindset was bad not only for him but the others as well. Yet it felt as if it was in response to something he knew but just wasn't aware of at the same time.

But what?

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

Taiyang eased the bike to a stop on the right shoulder of the road. In the distance he could see Mountain Glenn but what drew his attention were the several fires that were visible from even outside of the city.

"Do you think the dead are attacking here as well?" His traveling partner asked from behind him.

"I'm not sure, I see some helicopters but I think we should stay out here for the night. Then we'll see what it's like in the morning." He said as she got off the bike and he followed suit. Reaching into his jacket he pulled out a flashlight then clicked it on. Panning it around he couldn't see anything indicating zombies have passed through the area.

He turned the flashlight over to his companion; he had found her some new clothes. Instead of bloodstained scrubs she now wore a pair of black jeans along with an open leather jacket over a grey shirt underneath. Taiyang couldn't help but linger a little around her chest but averted his eyes when she looked up at him.

"You think we'll find them here?" She asked and he shrugged as she took out a flashlight of her own from the large mountain pack that she carried.

"I can't say for sure but I think this is the best bet. The Army's been broadcasting for almost a week that Mountain Glenn was safe and I hope they weren't just lying." He said as he began to walk the bike further into the trees before parking it behind a bush. His companion handed him a black blanket which he threw onto the bike.

They moved further into the forest, carefully navigating the steep terrain until they reached a relatively flat area. They set up their flashlights to face inwards to illuminate the area as they began to set up camp.

Due to the limited space of the mountain pack along with his Honda's saddle bags they didn't have a lot of supplies left. Taiyang knew that they only had enough food for two days maybe three if they stretched it along with only four bottles of water left.

In addition he had lost his Model 1887 and now was left with the Kahr CW40. His companion didn't have a firearm since she had somehow made it out of Vale using only a scalpel which he found rather amazing.

They worked well together, as he cleared the ground then began making a hole lined with rocks she was gathering twigs and logs for the fire. After lighting it they sat side by side eating out of the canned leftovers from that afternoon.

"Do you think we'll find them there?" She asked after finishing off her canned food then setting it aside.

"I believe so, my kids are way smarter than me plus they always look after each other so I wouldn't be surprised if they out live me in this new world." She looked at him and shook her head.

"Don't say that you're fully capable of handling yourself as well." She smiled as she looked into the fire. Taiyang however could see that she looked rather sad.

"My daughter is intelligent and strong as well. Plus I know she can survive on her own as my poor parenting has already set her up to be used to being alone. I imagine she didn't even give me a second thought when this all happened." She could feel her eyes tear up as her heart clenched within her chest.

"I mean, only a bad mother could live with seeing her child as sparingly as possible, only seeing or hearing her voice every few days as she struggles with her own life with no true guidance or support." Taiyang wasn't sure what to say in that but he did have a hint at what it might be like for the child.

When Raven left he knew Yang stayed up for nights asking where her mother was or why she left. After a while she would wake him up late at night crying asking if he hated her or when he will leave her and it made his heartbreak every time.

Then after Summer died it was like a double blow for her, first her biological mother left without saying why making her feel responsible for her leaving. Then a woman who showed the young girl true motherly love died, robbing her of that experience that she so longed for.

Taiyang didn't know what this woman was like before all of this but he knew that in the end no matter her flaws as a parent she was still a better mother than Raven.

While he would admit that he still had feelings for the woman even when he was with Summer. Even understanding her reasons for leaving it still didn't mean he agreed with them, he had hoped that one day she would understand what should have been more important to her.

Now that dream was shattered much like the lives of those that lived in this cruel new world. Looking back over at her, Taiyang could practically see the despair oozing off her now.

"Don't worry, I bet when you do find her she'll be happy to see you no matter what." Minerva Nikos looked at him.

"Do you really think so?"

* * *

 **Another bites the dust...**

 **Well there isn't much to say about this chapter so i'll just skip to the important part.**

 **This will be the final chapter, I won't be continuing after this...**

 **Just kidding but I won't be updating this story anytime soon. Now it's not because I'm tired of it, more like I need some extra time trying to gather my thoughts. As such don't expect a new chapter until after October at the very least.**

 **So feel free to leave your thoughts about the chapter, the story overall or even what you think about this temporary break. I would love to know what you all think and am more than willing to talk in length.**

 **Anyways, that's it.**

 **Till next time!**


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